


Drive Her Crazy

by MissMonsters2



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Manipulation, Psychological Games, Smut, fem!reader - Freeform, non-healthy relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:55:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 43,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22626685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissMonsters2/pseuds/MissMonsters2
Summary: [From Tumblr]PAIRING: Wanda Maximoff x OFC/ReaderSummary: AU. Meet Wanda, the new ‘It’ girl. She’s built her social standing as a social influencer through Instagram and vlogging on Youtube. Queen Bee in her social circle, she’s got everyone wrapped around her finger. She’s perfect, you think. Girls like that require a little finesse, and you’re ready to play the game.Warnings: Non-healthy relationship, psychological games, smut
Relationships: David King/Liam King, Natasha Romanov (Marvel) & Reader, Wanda Maximoff/Reader, Wanda Maximoff/You
Comments: 7
Kudos: 86
Collections: Wanda Maximoff Reader-Inserts





	1. Part I

You always knew there was something a little off about the way you handled relationships. It wasn’t that you necessarily saw every girl as a competition or something to conquer…you were just interested in seeing how far you could push them to their limits.

But maybe it was also that you liked the attention. You _liked_ someone obsessing over you, liked the idea that your existence could make people do crazy things, become _insane_ because of you.

So it’s clear to say your relationships don’t end amicably, but it’s never your fault, at least in everyone’s eyes.

“That was a great set,” you turn your head to see the friendly blonde bartender compliment you as the night came to an end. You give her an award-winning smile and thank her politely before making your way out to your car. 

Your phone buzzes in your pocket, and you pull it out to see you’ve missed 23 calls and 30 text messages from your latest ex-girlfriend. It wasn’t anything new, but you when you were done, you were _done_. You slip your phone back into your pocket and get into your car and drive off. Your phone starts ringing through your Bluetooth, and you take a look at your car screen to see that it’s just your friend David calling you. As his boyfriend is out of town until tomorrow, you agreed to stop by later to hang out and watch a movie with him.

“What’s up? Just on my way right now,” you pick up and greet immediately.

_“Oh, perfect! Just wanted to let you know that I ordered some pizza. Pepperoni, green peppers, and olives, right?”_

“You know it! You’re the best.” You hear David laughing on the other end and reply with something sassy before hanging up. 

David is probably your closest friend. In your line of work, you’ve networked well, have many acquaintances, and a shit load of people who hover around you.

Before you know it, you’ve reached his house and made your way up to his door, holding a bottle of wine. When he opens the door, he greets you with a hug and ushers you in.

“How was it?” He asks, referring to your gig tonight. 

You shrug. “Not bad, the crowd was pretty hyped.”

“What’s your next gig?” David asks, grabbing some wine glasses from his cabinet and grabs the bottle to pour both of you some.

You saunter over to his kitchen island and sit in front of him, looking at the messy photos strewn everywhere over his laptop.

“Leaving to California in two days and going to be there for a bit as I got a couple gigs there, and I got booked for Wasteland this year.” You say, a smile on your face. David’s jaw drops as he passes you one of the wine glasses.

“No way, you bitch! Ugh, I’m so proud of you, my baby is making her way through the DJ world.” He holds his wine glass tightly to his chest wistfully before you both laugh and clink their glasses together lightly.

You take a sip and hum appreciatively at the taste. “What about you? I see you’re finishing your photoshoot.”

You grab some of the sample photos he has out. David is a photographer, and no small one either. Usually, big names are looking hire him, but David is someone who only likes working with interesting people, famous or not. He can turn a nobody into a somebody overnight.

“Yeah, nice, isn’t it? He’s only 17, but he’s blowing up the music world right now.”

You hum, not really caring about the kid but David did take stunning photos.

“Anything else lined up for you?” You ask, putting the photos back down. David shakes his head, drinking some more of the wine. 

“No, still scoping out some prospects for projects. Although my boyfriend did show me something that a couple of days ago.” David puts down his glass and pulls his laptop over, typing away on it and then pulls out his phone.

“Check this out,” he says, passing both his phone and turning his laptop around to a youtube video. You look at the phone first and see that it’s someone’s Instagram page open. 

Wanda Maximoff. About 500k followers, which is pretty impressive. You scroll through the photos, and you feel your breath leaving your body a little.

She’s gorgeous. You’re checking photo after photo, and you’re getting a pretty good idea of her. 

She’s the ‘It’ girl. Queen Bee of her social circle, everyone wants to be her or be _with_ her. She puts out that she’s just the average down-to-earth girl, but just more mysterious and cool.

But you can see it. 

She may be kind, gentle, quirky, and fun. But underneath all of that, she’s also little narcissistic, a little selfish. 

She’s someone who likes the attention too.

“Interesting, she a model?” You ask, giving David his phone back. You look over to the laptop screen to see a video hers up. 

David shakes his head. “No, she’s an LA social influencer and vlogger. She’s been gaining a lot of attention over the last two years. She’s repped some big brands like Prada and Chanel.”

You’re too busy watching the video to really reply. Her vlogs are kind of an insight into her daily life, and watching it confirms your thoughts about her.

She has an accent that you find sounds like music to your ears, and when she laughs, God, it makes your stomach flutter.

You force yourself to tear your eyes away from the screen and focus on David.

“That’s interesting, you thinking of reaching out to her for your next project?” You ask.

David immediately shakes his head back and forth. “God, no. I don’t do social influencers. They’re vapid, and they have no self-branding. My boyfriend just thought I’d get a laugh out of it.”

You quirk your eyebrow at him with a smirk. “Well, there are about 500,000 people who would disagree with you.”

“Fine, I have to say she seems better than most of the social influencers I’ve met. At least her vlogs a little interesting.” David says, and you both laugh again.

The rest of the night, you eat and watch the movie with David, but your mind is replaying the images and video of Wanda over and over again. By the time you get home that night, you’re already doing a little research on her.

She’s two years older than you and located in LA.

It’s fate, you think.

You’re going to make the most of this when you go to California.

Because girls like Wanda require a little _finesse_ …and you’re ready to play the game.


	2. Part II

The sun felt good on your skin. You kind of liked it after living somewhere rainy all the time. You had driven your car to LA and David was able to hook you up with a place to stay since one of his clients was out of town for the next 6 months and didn’t mind having someone there as long as the place wasn’t trashed.

The place was nice and decently sized as you set your equipment down and went back to your car to get your bags.

You had a gig to play at some trust fund kid’s 21st birthday (usually you’d decline these types of requests, but he was paying you enough to buy a liver on the black market), so you needed to drive out to the Palm Desert in two days. 

After you put all your things away, you sat on the bed, pulling out your phone. This was the tricky part. You needed to find an organic way to meet Wanda. You didn’t want to come off as a fan, nor did you want to meet her through work because it would be difficult to discern if she liked _you_ , or if she liked your connections.

You needed to find a way to be in her social circle, without being someone she just networks with.

You were scrolling through her Instagram more in-depth this time, being careful to not like any of the photos.

You discovered that she had a fiancé, some nobody indie singer named Jarvis, but only went by his stage name, Vision (you had to roll your eyes a little at that).

You discovered regular places that she liked to frequent. Book stores, restaurants, bars, beaches, etc.

You tapped your fingers idly at your side. How were you going to bump into her? Her latest Instagram post shared that she had a new partnership with Biologique Recherche and was repping their skincare line, but there wasn’t anything you could really do with that.

You sighed and put your phone away. Closing your eyes, you opted to take a nap, being so tired from the drive.

Maybe you would just have to meet her in a work setting, it would just be harder to move away from just networking friend.

But you weren’t against hard work. 

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶

By the time you had woken up, it was pretty late. You were a little miffed knowing that it was going to mess with your sleeping schedule, but there wasn’t much that you could do about it now. 

Your stomach growled hungrily, and you got up getting ready to grab a bite to eat since there was no food in the house. You were thinking about heading to that fast food chain that served healthy food bowls. Wanda had posted a photo of it, and you had to admit it looked pretty good.

It was a relatively new chain, so they didn’t have any more than two locations. It was a pretty walkable distance from your place, so you just put on a light cardigan and left.

You were tinkering away on your phone when you walked into the shop, standing in line, not looking up. You shuffled a little as the person in front of you moved up to the counter to put in their order.

“Ah, sorry, hold on. I swear my wallet is in here.” 

The voice makes you look instantly. 

It’s the only voice you’ve been hearing for the past two days.

There she was. Standing in front of you, back turned as she was in yoga pants, a tank top, and a sweater. Probably just coming from a workout. 

You watched as she aggressively looked through her large bag, digging for what you presumed for is a wallet. She sighed disappointedly, letting you know there was no luck in finding the wallet.

This was your organic moment, you thought. It was too good, you were too lucky to get this moment. And you weren’t going to waste it.

Just as she was about to tell the cashier to cancel the order, you stepped up.

“Hey,” you softly greeted, surprising her to look over. You grinned lightly, trying to look a little sheepish and non-threatening. “I couldn’t help but overhear you can’t find your wallet. Happens to me too. If you’re okay with it, you can put your order with mine.”

Wanda eyes you for a moment but then smiles. “Yeah, if you’re okay with that. I can pay you back.”

You chuckle, waving her off and stepping up closer to the cashier to put in your order. “It’s no problem. It’s an $8 bowl, you’re hardly breaking my bank.”

She laughs, bringing you to smile a wider. You pay for the order, and the cashier tells you to grab a seat, and they’ll bring it out to you. 

Wanda turns to you. “Thanks again for that, I swear I brought my wallet with me. Since you don’t want me to pay you back, did you want to eat together? I mean, if you’re not busy and all.”

Your inner voice can’t help but celebrate at how well it’s going, but you put on a happy grin. “Sure.”

You grab a corner table that’s next to the window. Wanda’s hair is in a messy bun before she pulls it out, curls falling over as she pushes her bangs over to one side.

She’s too gorgeous, you think. 

“I’m Wanda,” she introduces herself. 

You introduce yourself back and set your phone facing down on the table. 

“Late night workout?” You ask, eyeing her attire again. She nodded, sipping on her water.

“Yeah, it’s been a crazy hectic day, and I’m trying to be really good about not skipping.” She says with a mischievous smirk making you laugh lightly.

“What about you?” She asks about your day. 

You shake her head, “Nah, I just got in town. I did kind of put some of my things away, but napping kind of put a wrench in getting anything else done and potentially getting any sleep tonight.”

Wanda giggles and you feel like a lovesick puppy trying to get her to laugh again.

The conversation stays polite. You both trade funny stories and anecdotes to get to know each other a little better.

Wanda is trying to not choke on her food as you finish your story.

“No way,” she snorts a little, and you sigh in almost a shameful way.

“Nope, it really happened. I had to scale down her freaking balcony, couldn’t even get my shoes. Guess I was lucky to have my underwear at least.”

Wanda just bursts into a fit of laughter, eyes watering up as she wiped them.

“I can’t believe that happened to you,” she says, still laughing.

You shrug your shoulders, throwing your napkin into your finished bowl. “Me neither. What are the chances of an ex-girlfriend becoming roommates with someone you’re banging?”

Wanda’s laugh has died down, but she grins at you. The night is coming to an end, you’re not really sure how to go from here. You don’t think this warrants asking for her number, and you think she would reject it anyways since she has a fiancé.

You both get up, chatting a little more as you exit. You think you’re about to separate ways, but then you’re both walking in the same direction. You both chuckle, although a little awkwardly.

“Do you live this way?” She asks. You nod.

“Yeah,” you say and then tell her what community you’re living in. Her eyes brighten up happily.

“No way! We live in the same community! Wouldn’t it be crazy if we were neighbors?”

Your eyes widen slightly in surprise. This was insane. This was too coincidental and lucky. You’re starting to get worried you’re going to use up all the luck you have in this lifetime.

You chuckle, almost nervously as you both walk together home. She’s sharing with you about a bookstore she recently went to and loved as it was tiny and unorganized, but every book you pulled out was interesting.

Eventually, you come to her stop. She lived in a nice house as you predicted from getting paid to rep brands. 

“Well, this is my stop. You any further from here?” She says, turning to you. You shake your head. You can’t believe you actually only live a couple blocks from her.

You point down the block and then up the road to where you’re staying. “I’m just a couple blocks down and then up that road.”

Wanda’s eyes widened slightly and then her eyebrows furrowed. “Oh, wow, those are the really nice houses. I don’t remember anyone from there put any listings up for sale.”

“Yeah, I’m actually just here for maybe a couple months. I have a friend who knows the owner of a house up there and is letting me stay while they’re in Europe for like, 6 months.”

Wanda nods, understanding more of the situation. With nothing really left to be said, you’re saying goodbye to her, thinking about how you’re going to produce another organic meeting.

At least it would be easier now since you knew where she lived. You could pretend to be on a run and pass by. She said she goes to that new book store on Thursdays, so you could do that.

Just as you’re turning to leave, she calls your name again. You turn back around, wondering if you maybe dropped something. She’s holding her bag strap a little tightly and shifts from one foot to another.

“Did you, _um_ , did you, maybe, want to come inside for a drink?”

You try to make sure you don’t make a surprised face because you think that might put her off and make her backtrack. So, you simply gave her a lopsided smile and nodded. She beamed at you and led you into her house. It’s pretty dark, and you’re wondering where her fiancé is since it’s late.

“Thanks for this, my finacé is out of town visiting a friend, and I hate staying in the house alone.” 

Ah, that explains that. You tell her it’s not a problem. She gets you to sit down on her couch as she turns on a lamp and lights a few candles. Soon the room starts to smell like salted caramel, and you love it. 

Wanda comes back with some wine and hands you a glass as she takes a seat.

“Is this okay? My fiancé hates it when I put on candles, the smell is overwhelming to him.”

You shook your head, taking a sip of the wine. “No, I love the smell. It reminds me of fall.”

“Same!” Wanda grinned.

“So,” Wanda started, swirling around her wine a little. “You haven’t actually moved here then?” 

You shook your head again, leaning back a little more to get comfortable. Wanda is sitting facing towards you, her side leaning against the back of her couch as she has her legs tucked in.

“No, I’m actually just here for work. Though, I suppose if I enjoy it enough, I may decide to move here permanently.”

“What do you do for work?” Wanda asked, eyes piping with curiosity.

“I’m in the music industry,” you say cryptically with a smile. Wanda seemed to take it, though, smiling as her eyes spark.

“Oh! My fiancé, Jarvis, but goes by his stage name, Vision, is also in the music industry. He’s a singer.”

You try to keep your lip from twitching as you ask, “Anything I would’ve heard?”

She pursed her lips, pulling out her phone and loaded SoundCloud on it. 

“Probably not. Vision just likes putting his music out there, he doesn’t really care about making it big.”

Doesn’t care about making it big, or unable to make it big, you wonder.

You hear soft guitar music playing, and you think it’s not bad. Until he sang.

His singing voice itself is pretty good. It’s just his lyrics.

God, you don’t think you’ve written such bad lyrics since you were 13. The song continues to play and you will your face to not cringe. When it finished, you give a smile to Wanda because she’s beaming like she’s so proud.

Your gut clenched because that was so bad and if she’s beaming like that, is she seriously in love with Vision?

“That’s…insane…” you say. 

“I keep telling him to give his demos to agents out there, but he’s not into that. He keeps saying he just likes posting his music and if some hotshot finds him, then it’s meant to be.” Wanda said with a roll of her eyes. 

You chuckled for lack of what to say and then changed the topic. “What do you do for work?”

You already knew, but it would be interesting to see what she would say about it.

“I suppose Vision would say I’m a photographer,” she mused, and you fight the urge to raise your brow. She wasn’t wrong, though, in a way.

“It’s nothing really, I post vlogs and brands pay me to represent their stuff.”

You weren’t really surprised by the humble approach, but you decided to give her what she wanted to hear.

Your eyes widened in surprise, “No way! That’s seriously amazing. So, you’re kind of famous?”

Wanda laughed bashfully, slapping you on your arm a little as she blushed.

“Oh god, no, not like _famous_ , but I’ve got some loyal followers. It’s nothing really, pays good money.”

You take this moment to ask her what her Instagram and Youtube it so you can freely look at it and not worry about accidentally liking anything. You trade social media handles and start chatting again before her phone buzzes multiple times in a row. She gives you an apologetic smile as she checked her phone.

“Oh, man, are you fucking serious?” She groaned, putting her phone back down and throws her head back onto the couch, hand over her eyes.

“Everything okay?” You asked curiously.

Wanda sighed and lifts her head back up, expression dampened by whatever she read. “Yeah, sorry. I have a photoshoot in two days. My friend was supposed to give me a ride since my car is in the shop right now, but she just bailed.”

You watched as she pulled up her phone and scrolled through it, mumbling to see which person might be able to drive her. 

It doesn’t sound promising.

“Where’s your photoshoot?” You ask her. She puts down her phone, looking a little defeated as she looks up at you.

“Palm Desert. Ugh, I think I’m going to have to cab it there.” She winced like she’s thinking about how much it’s going to cost to take a 2-hour taxi ride and you winced too.

You’re going to offer her a ride. It’s a little weird you think since she’s only known you for about 2 hours, but if since the universe keeps giving you these opportunities, you might as well take it.

“I can give you a ride there,” you said, watching her reaction. Her eyes widened, mouth opened a little. 

“What, really? Are you sure?” She asked you, and you’re nearly concerned that Wanda doesn’t seem even slightly worried she’s going to be locked in a car with a person she’s only just met.

You nodded. “Yeah. I actually have to head to Palm Desert for work, so if you don’t mind tagging along, I can give you a lift. What time is your shoot at?”

Wanda looked so grateful as she replied, “It’s at noon.”

You nod, thinking if you have anything to do in the morning, but you don’t.

“Alright, I’ll come get you at 9AM? We can get some breakfast on the way and head out?” You asked, and she nodded her head up and down rapidly, a broad smile on her face.

“Oh my god, you’re a lifesaver! I’m so glad I met you today.” Wanda says, sinking to the couch a little more, drinking her wine leisurely now that her problem was solved.

You tilted your head to the side and smiled.

“Yeah, what a coincidence.”


	3. Part III

“This is a really nice car,” Wanda commented as she settled into the passenger seat.

You had picked her up in the morning. You thought she looked cute because she was still clearly a little sleepy. She grumbled about not really being a morning person, and you had to chuckle quietly as she squinted at you.

You both had gotten coffee and a to-go avocado toast before hitting the road. You wanted to get Wanda there a little early so she can time to get ready for the photoshoot. You didn’t think she needed much done though. She had a natural dewy look to her skin and clearly took good care of herself. 

“It better…I spent over $200,000 on it. It’s my baby.” You say, grinning as Wanda laughed.

The ride was pretty good. You felt like Wanda needed some time to fully wake up, but once she had gotten a quarter way into her coffee, she seemed to perk up a little. 

“So what is the work thing you’ve got in the Palm Desert? You sure it’s okay if I show up too?” Wanda asked, adjusting her sunglasses on her face.

You nodded, leaning on your car door as you kept one hand on the wheel. “Yeah, it’s just a get together for this kid’s birthday. There’s going to be a lot of people there and free booze.”

“What are you exactly going to be doing there?” She asked with an eyebrow raised.

You turn over to her, smirk on your lips. “Guess you’ll just have to come and see.”

Wanda laughed, pushing you lightly as she shook her head. You turn your head back, plugging in your phone into the aux chord to play some music. An old song you produced and wrote started playing. Wanda hummed excitedly as she put her coffee cup back down and turned up the volume.

“Oh my god, I love this song,” she said, closing her eyes and moved to the beat of the music. You had to refrain from laughing because it was now more apparent she didn’t know who you were at all.

“You like Lady Phantom?” You ask her. Wanda opens her eyes and grins as she nods.

“Yeah, her songs always get me into a dancing mood. I love the remixes she does too. I tried to look her up recently since she started blowing up, but she doesn’t take photos or do live interviews. The only photos I could find were her in sweaters with the hood and mask on. Even her official Instagram doesn’t have any photos of her. I’ve been trying to get tickets to her show, but lately, they just sell out so quick.” Wanda looks slightly disappointed, and it takes everything to not reveal right then and there that you’re Lady Phantom

“Don’t worry…I’m sure you’ll get to see her live soon.” You say, encouragingly. 

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶

When you arrived at her photoshoot, Wanda insisted that you come and sit. It’s fine as long as you’re not taking pictures or recording. It’s also not a secret that Wanda is a spokesperson for this brand. 

She goes away to do her hair and makeup, and you’re left sitting in a chair near the set.

Movement by the side of your eye catches your attention, and you look over to see the photographer coming onto the set, and you recognized him. You had briefly met him at one of the parties David was hosting, so he knew you were Lady Phantom. He was a big fan of David’s work.

Isaac was his name, you think.

The photographer turns, catching eyes with you briefly, turning his head back but then whipping over again when he recognized you. He ditches whoever he’s talking to and walks his way over.

“Oh my, what are you doing here?” He exclaimed happily, and you stood up to give him a quick hug.

“Just here accompanying Wanda,” you say casually.

“Oh, you know her?” Isaac asked. You nodded.

“Yes, we just met recently, but I do absolutely adore her. She’s fascinating, don’t you think?” You say, your words hinting a deeper meaning underneath. 

Isaac nodded carefully. “Yes, there’s really no one better than her for this. I’ll make sure she has a good photoshoot today.”

You give him a nod in thanks with a smile. He’s about to leave when you call to his attention again.

“Wanda doesn’t exactly know I’m Lady Phantom,” you say. 

“Of course, I’ll be discreet.” Isaac nods quickly.

After he leaves, it’s about another half an hour before Wanda comes out and your breath hitches slightly. Since it’s a skincare brand, they wanted Wanda to have a more natural look to her skin. Her hair is mussed carefully, and she’s wearing a silk bathrobe for the shoot.

“How do I look?” She asks you, twirling around for you and her bare thigh flashes you.

“I’m in disbelief,” you say with a smirk, “I might have to switch skincare brands.”

Wanda laughed, bumping her shoulders with you lightly. “I’ll have you know, my genetics are just this good too.”

You roll your eyes at her playfully. “Alright, alright, all hail your genetics. Shoo, miss perfect, your shoot is about to start.”

She sticks her tongue out at you before jogging off. 

The shoot was going well. You were enamored by how she could turn on a switch when she was working. They managed to shoot a quick 30-second ad and finish the photoshoot in 4 hours.

“Good work today, everyone!” Isaac said as they were finishing packing up. Wanda finished changing, and you were going to grab some early dinner before heading over to the party.

“Wow, I have never had such a great shoot before. I feel like they were super accommodating for me.” Wanda commented as you both were seated at the restaurant.

Isaac had shown her every shot and asked for her opinion on nearly everything. There were a couple times that Wanda said she thought she could do a photo better or a scene better and Isaac let her do it.

You shrug, smiling at her. “You are their spokesperson.”

You talked about her photoshoot for the duration of the meal. You had given your opinion in certain areas, which she did take into account.

You looked at your watch and hummed, wiping your lips and called your waitress over.

It was the evening now, and you needed to make to the party soon. You put your card on the bill and Wanda is finishing her last bite as she makes a sound of disapproval.

“No, you paid for my meal the first time we met! Let me get this one,” Wanda says trying to grab the bill, but you quickly pull it away and have the waitress take it to run your card.

“It’s fine, Wanda really. It’s the least I can do since you’re going to be stuck with me here until tomorrow.” You tell her, and she rolls her eyes.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing! You totally saved my ass today for the photoshoot and taking me to get free booze. Ugh, fine. But the next one is on me!”

You put your hands up to mollify her, and the waitress comes back for your signature. You sign the bill and usher Wanda into the car to get going. 

You pull up to a mansion that’s gated. The guard looks at you, and you flash him an invitation card. The guard nods and opens the gates. 

“Jesus, you really were not kidding when you said he was a trust fund kid.” Wanda whistles.

You snorted in response. You drop her at the entrance where there are people already.

“Why don’t you head in first? I need to park the car, set up some stuff, and find the birthday kid.” You tell Wanda, and she nods.

“Hope you can find me in this mini island,” she says, and you laugh. 

You park your car in his underground parking (seriously, what does his family do?) and text the kid that you’re here. He comes to meet you, helping you with some of your equipment.

You make small talk, and he doesn’t seem like a complete dickhead, just very privileged. You’re not set to play until later in the evening, and you told him that you would only be playing for two hours. The kid waves it off, saying it’s ‘totally cool’ as he’s scheduled some other DJs to come play before and after. You were just there for the prime time.

He leads you into the kitchen to let you know to get whatever you want and to come to prepare whenever you thought was appropriate. You thank him and wave him off. You look around and grab a beer bottle because you didn’t trust the open fruit punch bowl. 

You walk to the backyard and see the stage set up with someone already playing. You didn’t recognize who it was, but the beat wasn’t bad. You see a giant pool and hot tub with many people around it. There are a couple of grills out, and you see what you assume would be catering.

Looking to your left, you immediately spot Wanda and a small crowd around her. It seems like there were a couple fans and followers who were at this party and recognized her. She was basking in the sun, chatting happily with some of the people surrounding her. You leaned against a ledge, just watching her as you drank from your beer. 

She spotted you from a distance, throwing her hand up in the air and waved you over. You smiled, getting back up and walked your way over.

“There you are! I was beginning to wonder if you ditched me,” she said playfully with a smirk. You laughed and shook your head.

“Wouldn’t dream of it. Just watching from the distance as you interact with your adoring fans,” you say, and pink hue blushes over her cheeks as she slaps your arm lightly. You grin at her and grab her hand to start pulling her away.

“Alright, alright, she can sign autographs and take pictures later, I gotta borrow her.” You tell the crowd who groan lightly in disappointment. 

She’s laughing when you finally pull her to the bar, ordering two drinks. She sips it and hums happily.

“ _Oh_ , tastes good. I love fruity drinks.” She says and takes another sip. You take a sip of your own drink and lean your head against your closed fist on the table.

“So, we are here at the party now,” Wanda says with a raised brow. “Can you tell me now what you’re doing here?” 

You shake your head languidly with a grin. “Nope, I’m still technically off the clock. Let’s enjoy ourselves because we’re going to be here for a while.”

Wanda makes a sound of disappointment when you don’t tell her what exactly you’re here for but nods nonetheless. She orders a couple shots and you both down them back like pros. You both meet some guys and girls who you drink and dance with.

Wanda’s laughing as she dances, grabbing your hands as she twirls around and stumbles lightly into you. You’re careful about wrapping your arms around her as you steady her. 

A couple of hours have passed, and you’re both just having a blast. Trust fund kid does know how to throw the party as he also has activities, games, and performances there. You take Wanda over to a table and grab her some water and walk over to the catering to get her some food.

You place the plate down in front of her, and she munches happily on the food.

“Hopefully that will sober you up a little. Can’t have you completely checked out when I’m working.” You tell her. Wanda narrows her eyes at you again when you say that.

“Are you going to tell me now?” She asks, and you laugh and shake your head. You spend the next hour getting Wanda to sober up, and it’s working pretty well. It seemed like she just needed to eat. You both meet up with some of the people you’ve met over the day, and they’re standing at the front of the stage. 

“Hey, there you guys are!” One of the guys say. “Thought you were going to miss it. The birthday boy has been telling everyone he’s got a huge surprise soon. A little birdie told me he was able to book a famous DJ.”

Wanda turns to you to see if you know anything about that, but you just shrug your shoulders at her. You were supposed to go play soon, so you needed to leave.

“I’ll be right back,” you whisper in her ear, and she nods, turning her attention back to the group.

You hurry on back to the stage and check that everything for you is set up and ready. Your bag is set up on one of the back tables. You open it and pull out your signature mask and put it on.   
  


It was what made Lady Phantom so intriguing and why there weren’t too many photos. You stood at the edge watching as the birthday boy came onto the stage, mic in hand.

“Thank you all for coming tonight, I hope you’re having an amazing time!” He shouted into the mic, getting screams of approval in return.

“Well, the fun isn’t over yet. Tonight, I’ve got a special guest to come play. MAKE SOME NOISE FOR LADY PHANTOM!”

The crowd erupted in excited cheers as you came out onto the stage. The crowd is chanting your name, and you grab the mic.

“Let’s get this fucking party started! This set is dedicated to a friend I just recently met.” You look over to Wanda who has her jaw dropped as she looks at your in disbelief. You send a wink over to her and start playing. 

Once the initial shock passed, Wanda just shook her head and laughed, dancing to your set. You couldn’t keep your eyes off of her as she danced to your music and it was like Wanda knew that.

She swayed back and forth, grabbing the end strands of her hair as she bit her lip smiling at you. Your pupils dilated, drinking her in, and you had to tear your eyes way to concentrate on your set. 

You played the rest of your set, eyeing Wanda occasionally, smiling when she seemed in her own world, dancing on her own to your music.

She looked hypnotic, and you couldn’t wait until she was yours.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶

You and Wanda decided to call it a night after you finished your set. 

You told the trust fund kid that in addition to being paid, you needed a secluded room to crash the night. The last thing you wanted was to be around passed out strangers. So, the kid gave you the corner room with a king-sized bed and balcony. 

You were glad you got this room with Wanda tagging along. She was a little tipsy, but danced most off it off, and was now just tired. The balcony had a low sofa with pillows and blankets that you were both sitting on, chatting quietly.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you’re Lady Phantom! I must have seemed so silly when we were on the way here.” Wanda nearly whined, pushing your shoulder.

You laughed, leaning back against the sofa. “You can’t just name drop yourself, that’s weird. I was super flattered, don’t worry.”

She’s about to say something else, but your phone starts buzzing out of control from texts.

You pretty much ignore it, knowing it’s your ex-girlfriend and Wanda just stares with you. When the phone starts ringing, she raises her eyebrow at you. “So are you going to get that? Seems important.” 

She asks as your phone repeatedly goes off. You can see from your peripheral vision that you’ve missed 4 calls now.

You shake your head, “Nope. There will be many regrets if I pick that up.”

Wanda’s brows furrowed together as she picks up your phone as it continues to vibrate. Then more texts start to come in. “Who is it?”

“Oh, wow,” Wanda comments, realizing it’s your ex-girlfriend and you chuckle awkwardly.

“Yeah…I broke up with her about three weeks ago. She pretty much does this every day.” You say, offhandedly. You can’t blame your ex, though. You had pursued her for months, showering her with gifts and your attention. You took her to party events and let her meet some of your acquaintances in your business.

You made her feel special. 

Then as quick as you did, you started to distance yourself a little. Gave lingering looks at other girls when she was looking at you. You didn’t stop other people from flirting with you.

And when you thought she had enough, you went back to making her feel like she was the center of your universe.

And when she started to constantly ask where you were and who you were with, becoming insecure. And when she started to beg you, you were disappointed.

You realized she wasn’t any different. 

So you ended it.

“Wow, bad break up?” Wanda asked, almost surprised your phone was still ringing in her hand.

“I guess so,” you shrug. “It just wasn’t working out. Sometimes, people just aren’t what you think or hope they are.”

Wanda watched as you leaned your head against your fist tilted to the side.

“Doesn’t this get overwhelming to have her call you and message you this many times every day?” She asks, and you shrug. It didn’t bother you that much. There was some satisfaction to see what she had become because of you, and you knew it would eventually stop.

“Not much I can do,” you tell Wanda. “If I pick up, there will be screaming or sobbing, and I’m not good at either.”

Wanda gives you a mischievous grin, and you look at her curiously. 

“Do you want me to make it stop?” 

You eye her, almost suspiciously but she only grins wider.

“Alright, if you can.” You challenge her. You’ve had David in the past pick up your calls from exes to tell them to stop calling, but it hadn’t worked. David ended up getting an earful himself or had to spend hours on the line with basically a stranger to comfort them and stop their crying.

A glint flickered across Wanda’s eyes, and she picked up the call on put it on speakerphone. You watched in curiosity and fascination with what she did.

Her breath hitched, a barely audible gasp. She moaned lightly, and the sound made you tighten your fist slightly.

“Mmm, h-hello?” Wanda answered, breathless, and stuttered a little. 

The line was silent for a moment.

 _“Um…who is this?”_ You could hear your ex-girlfriend ask confusedly. Your ex then said she was looking for you.

Wanda grinned at you for a second before going back to the call. 

“She’s… _oh_ …she’s kind of busy right now.” Wanda moaned a little more loudly this time, and you felt your gut clench, your body.

“Busy doing what?” Your ex demanded. Wanda wickedly smirked as if she was just waiting for that line. 

“Busy doing _me_. Don’t call again.” Wanda taunted, her accent just doing wonders to your libido. She hung up, cackling and you couldn’t help but laugh along. You shook your head, grinning the entire time widely as she gave your phone back.

“You are a wicked, _wicked_ lady,” you tell her and she sticks her tongue out at you as she scooted closer to you. 

“Well, she’ll unlikely call you back after that,” Wanda pointed out, giving you a smile that said, ‘you’re welcome’.

You just continue to grin at her and compliment her, “it was an Oscar-worthy performance.”

Wanda actually seemed surprised that you said that, a light blush dusting her cheeks.

“Really?” She asks, in almost a demure way you weren’t used to. You turn your head to her, giving her a soft smile.

“Yeah, why do you seem so surprised? You’re pretty amazing. You’ve built your brand online, you did a photoshoot for Biologique Recherche today. Lady Phantom says that’s pretty cool.”

Wanda stares at you, her smile widening as she leaned back into the sofa, grabbing a pillow.

“Can I tell you something?” She asks, looking up at the stars. “I mean, you can’t say anything yet, I haven’t even told Vision,” Wanda says, a little seriously.

Your eyebrow raises, curiosity piping if she hadn’t even told her fiancé. 

“Well, considering you’re keeping Lady Phantom on the low, I suppose I could do the same,” your tone was a little teasing. She’s about to hit you with her pillow, but you block it.

“Well…I want to expand a little more. I don’t want to be just a blogger and social influencer. I…want to become an actress.” She says, looking wistful. 

You take in what she said, turning your body to face her as you sit cross-legged.

“Okay, well, do it. I’ll be sure to buy at least 10 tickets at the opening of your first movie.” You say finally. She looks at you incredulously. 

“What? I mean, you think I could do it?” She asks. You’re wholeheartedly confused to why she’s even asking.

“Of course! If you just had an Oscar-worthy performance. I imagine you’ll need a storage room for all the awards you’ll win for real movies and TV shows.” You grin at her, and she just smiles at you in a way you haven’t seen before, and you realize you’re uncovering other sides of her. She thanks you sincerely, putting her pillow in your lap and leaned down to put her head on top, facing the outside.

“So,” you softly said, resisting the urge to run your fingers lightly through her hair. “Why haven’t you told Vision?”

Wanda shrugged lightly. “I don’t know. Ever since I started to take off on Instagram and YouTube, he’s just been a little weird about everything. Don’t get me wrong, I think he has an amazing talent.”

You’re a little depressed when you heard her say that, just because she likes Lady Phantom too, and you refused to be in the same talent category with Vision.

“But he just…I don’t know, thinks that whatever he’s doing now is enough.”

“And you don’t?” You asked softly.

Wanda just shrugs again. “I suppose I am more unsure of what it is that Vision truly wants.”

You let the conversation die, not wanting to probe deeper into what Wanda feels about Vision, mostly because you don’t want to push too far. Patience is key.

You start to hum Riptide by Vance Joy, and Wanda hums.

“That’s my absolute favorite song,” she tells you. You stop humming to look down to see Wanda’s eyes closed and she was drifting to sleep. You wrinkle your nose, looking over to the bed and sigh. There was no way you were going to be able to move her over there with her lying on you like this. Instead, you lean over her, trying to reach the blanket, just barely grasping it. You drape it over her body and sigh softly to not wake her.

You leaned your temple against your resting fist against the sofa as you looked down at Wanda who slept peacefully. 

You kept reminding yourself that patience was key. It takes time to form genuine connections, to make someone feel special. It would be your actions that would make Wanda come to you.

You thought about Vision briefly, tapping the sofa with your other hand. 

You replayed the conversion of Wanda telling you about how she hasn’t told him about wanting to be an actress.

It was evident that Vision was insecure about Wanda’s success and fame.

Perhaps getting him out of the picture would be easier than you thought.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶

When Wanda woke up that morning, she found you sitting at the table on the other side of the balcony, coffee in hand, and on your laptop.

“Ugh,” she groaned, wincing at her hangover. You turned your head over at the sound and smiled sympathetically at the girl. You got up and walked over with some Advil and coffee you had gotten her.

“Here, I got your coffee order. I have breakfast for you too.” You give her the pills, and she hums appreciatively when the coffee hits her tongue.

“What’s for breakfast?” She mumbles, sitting up all the way, running her fingers through her hair. 

“I got you a cream cheese, avocado, and egg bagel.” You help her up to the table, and she sits down with a huff. Once she takes a bite off food, she groans in satisfaction.

“I love you,” she says, and you’re sure she’s just saying that but you smile nonetheless.

“I think you mean you love the bagel. I’m going to give you a minute with it and pack up. We’re hitting the road soon, so do what you need to do before we go.”

The ride home went without a hitch. Once the Advil kicks in and the food settles, she’s more sociable and asks you more about your work. She asks what upcoming gigs you have. You tell her the small gigs you have set up but hold out on Wasteland. You’re in the middle of getting Artiste tickets for her and a couple extra in case she wants to bring anyone else. 

When you drop her off, you see another car parked in her driveway. 

“Oh, Vision is finally home,” Wanda comments. You don’t say anything.

“Did you want to come in?” Wanda asks you as she turns to you. You shake your head.

“Maybe next time, I’ve got some things I have to do.”

Wanda nods but purses her lips. Her eyes then widen.

“Oh! I just about forgot. Are you busy this weekend? You should come to my friend’s party. She just got a new job, so one of my other friends is hosting a party of her.”

“You sure?” You ask since it seems like it’s going to be an intimate gathering for a celebration. Wanda waves her hand to say it’s not a big deal.

“Yeah totally, I texted them already how we met and how you saved my butt. They want to meet you.”

You nod your head and smile.

“Alright,” you tell her with a smile. “Text me the address and time.”

Wanda nods and gets out of the car.

“I’ll text you later. Let’s lunch again this week.”

You nod again. The door opens, and you see a man with blonde hair walk out, curiously looking at you. You eye him, turning back to Wanda, winking before driving off.


	4. Part IV

You pull up on the driveway of someone else who looks like they have a lot of money (well, you knew they did on the fact that it was a gated community, and then the person’s house had a personal gate again that you had to tell a guard your name before they opened it).

You parked your car onto their spacious driveway along with the other cars. Goddamn, this person had a fountain…in their driveway. You grab the wine you had gotten as a gift, your bag that had a little surprise for Wanda and make your way to the door. 

Ringing the doorbell, you wait a couple seconds before someone opens the door. You’re greeted with Wanda’s blue eyes as she excitedly hugs you.

“You made it!”

You return her hug, and when you pull back, she’s already leading you through the massive house. In the kitchen, you find a group of people there who are flitting around preparing for dinner.

They all turn to you, curious and some smiling. You see Vision in the corner next to another man.

Wanda introduces you to everyone, and they’re greeting you. “That’s Tony and Pepper, they’re married. This is Steve and Bucky, that’s Clint and Bruce, my fiancé Vision there, and of course, the star of tonight, Natasha!”

You’re trying to keep up with the names, but you’re sure you’re going to have to ask for them multiple times tonight. At least you’ll remember Natasha since the party is for her. 

“Congratulations are in order I hear,” you tell Natasha, offering her the wine bottle.

“I hope you like red,” you say. 

Natasha grabs the bottle from you, eyeing it with an impressed raised brow.

“Bordeaux wine Pétrus. Impressive. Even my new boss hasn’t gifted me anything this nice,” she smiles at you and for a moment, you’re enchanted by her slender and seductive features.

“Hey!” You hear, looking over to see the man with the Goatee (Tony, you think?) yell indignantly.

“Working for me _is_ the gift,” Tony says, and you try not to laugh as Natasha rolls her eyes. Tony turns to you, a twinkle in his eye. “I’ve finally managed to snipe Natasha from the competition, you see. I’ve got the best publicist in this state, possibly America.”

You whistle impressively, turning to Natasha who just winks at you. Wanda grabs your attention again by touching your arm. You look over and give her a smile.

“What’s…Bordeaux wine Pétrus? Is it that good?” You look over to see the unbelievably fit blond man ask (seriously his body is the shape of a Dorito). 

“The bottle is around two grand, Steve. It’s more than good,” The guy next to him says. Steve’s eyes widen at you, and Wanda does the same. You just scratch the back of your head awkwardly with an upturn of your lip. 

When dinner starts, you opt to sit across from Natasha instead of Wanda. The dinner is pretty peaceful until Natasha asks you what you do for work. Wanda is about to answer for you, but you answer first.

“I’m actually a DJ,” you say. Natasha hums, licking her lips.

“Really? I don’t think I recognize your face.” Natasha says, and everyone is squinting trying to see if they know who you are.

You chuckle, “Yeah, probably because I do wear a mask when I perform.”

“Ah, hah! Since I highly doubt you’re Marshmellow, you must be Lady Phantom.” Clint snaps his fingers, and everyone turns their attention to him but then back to you.

You nod once, putting another bite of your into your mouth. Natasha’s just smirking at you, and you’re returning the look with a slight raise of your brow. 

“What’s wrong, Wanda? You look like someone just snatched your belongings.” Tony says, and you turn to look at Wanda who does look a little displeased.

She glares at you with a bit of sulk, “I can’t believe you just told everyone so easily, while I made a fool of myself before finding out.”

You laugh as she throws a grape at you. 

“How did you find out?” Bruce asked. 

You smile, taking the grape she threw at you and ate it. “Wanda had a photoshoot in Palm Desert the same time I had a gig there. Since she needed the ride, I took her along with me, and she so _kindly_ gushed how she was a fan of Lady Phantom, not realizing that that was me. She didn’t find out until I was playing at the gig.”

Wanda groans as everyone begins to laugh, sending you another glare. Vision looks at you with slight displeasure showing on his face.

“I don’t understand the mystery. Why the mask? Isn’t it contradictory to have the mask but seek fame?” Vision asks.

You raise your brow at him with a crooked grin. “Well, I wouldn’t say I _seek_ fame. It’s more of a result of my work. The mask is my branding. That’s how Clint was able to recognize who I was before I could say. I’m not opposed to the public knowing my face, but while I can, I enjoy my privacy.”

“It doesn’t feel very authentic,” Vision comments and Wanda elbows him in the rib, and he looks at her confused.

You merely shrug your shoulders. “My process is my own. My work speaks for itself, and I believe that image is a part of owning success and fame. You have to be extremely talented if you want to put your work out there anonymously as your brand. If you don’t believe in branding, then you’re just one of the billions of people who are floating with nothing to differentiate yourself. If you aren’t just made of talent, then you have to work hard, which means putting yourself out there. It would be incredibly naive to believe that success will just fall into your lap.”

You say and Natasha and Tony nod approvingly at you. You glance at Vision again with a subtly smug look in your face as he frowns at you with his brows furrowed. 

The rest of the dinner goes smoothly, you and Natasha make a lot of conversation, and you purposely did that. You could see Wanda staring at the two of you, conflicted on trying to join in on the conversation but finding it hard to.

“You should show me your work sometime,” Natasha says as you both pick up the plates and head over the sink. 

“Depends, Romanoff. What do I get in return?” You ask a little flirty. The redhead curves her lip upward.

“I’m pretty negotiable,” Natasha tells you in return. You lick your bottom lip and watch as Natasha eyes the action.

You’re about to say something else when Wanda comes up and interrupts you two.

“C’mon slowpokes, everyone is in the living room. Tony says you can just leave the dishes on the side.” Wanda grabs your arm and starts pulling you away while Natasha walks behind you two. 

This time, Wanda gets you to sit next to her, and Natasha sits on your other side. Tony and Pepper had brought over the alcohol, including your wine while Steve and Bucky went over to the bar to grab some glasses. 

They open your bottle and pour everyone a glass. You limit yourself to just this one glass as you want to be able to drive home later. 

Once the drinks are served, Tony immediately announcing it’s now game time. You play a variety of board games. After about 4 games, you all opt to sit and relax a little.

“So,” Natasha starts. “Any upcoming plans anyone?”

“I’m taking Pepper to the Bahamas for our anniversary next week.” Pepper grins as she’s sitting in Tony’s lap with his arms around his waist.

“Yeah, I’m thinking of taking the kids and wife to our lake house for the rest of the summer,” Clint says.

“Bucky and I are going to Brooklyn to visit our friends there for a couple weeks. We actually are considering moving there.” Steve says, looking over to Bucky who nods.

“I have a huge project, so this is probably the last time I’ll see the outside world for a while,” Bruce says with a sigh, taking a sip from his glass.

Wanda sighs as she’s leaning against Vision. “I want to go to Wasteland, but I want to get a guest pass so I can avoid the crowd in the VIP section, but all the brands I’ve worked with couldn’t get me passes. I might just have to risk it at VIP.”

You smile, and everyone turns to you. You pull your bag towards you and dig for what you’re looking for. You pull out 3 Artiste passes and Wanda gasps.

“I’m actually performing at Wasteland. They gave me some Artiste passes.” You hand two over to Wanda so she can give one to Vision. She squeals happily and throws her arms around you. You return the hug, eyeing Vision briefly but he catches it.

“What are Artiste passes?” Natasha asks.

“They are basically above VIP passes. It is a secluded section for basically celebrities. You can only get them from producers of the festival or from artists. With the Artiste passes, you can go backstage though.” Wanda says as she admires the photos. She’s already taking pictures of them for her Instagram with her phone. 

It was purposeful. You wanted Wanda to see how you could provide her anything she wanted where Vision could not, and the man could see that.

He eyed the passes with a level of anger but didn’t say anything. 

You weren’t done there, though. Originally, you were going to give all three passes to Wanda and have her see which of her friends wanted to tag along, but you decided you were going to ask Natasha yourself.

The redhead was perfect in the sense that she was a moving piece to make Wanda look more carefully at you.

You tilt the last pass at Natasha.

“Come see me play,” you tell the redhead. She smirks and takes the pass.

“What happened to getting something in return?”

“I’m sure I’ll think of something there,” you tell her with a smile. 

You could hear Clint snickering in the background.

“Let’s get back to playing some drinking games!” Wanda suddenly exclaimed, getting up and getting other people to stand up with her. You hid your smirk as you also stood up and held out your hand to Natasha to help her. 

It felt like a frat party after with all the drinking games you haven’t played since college. 

It was getting pretty late, and you were in the middle of a beer pong game with Steve and Bucky, and Natasha as your partner. You had let the redhead know you weren’t looking to drink as you wanted to be able to drive home safely after and she kindly drank every cup you guys lost. 

It was getting to a pretty close game, and since you were both competitive by nature, you told Natasha you both needed to start trying to get your shots into the same cup so you could try to end it in the next turn.

On your next turn, you had shot one into Steve and Bucky’s middle cup, and Natasha followed your suit, easily shooting hers into the same cup. Steve and Bucky loudly groaned in disappointment as they began to drink the middle cup and all the surrounding cups that touched the middle. 

You cheered, and Natasha smirked, taking her beer from the side and took a sip from it. 

Opting to not play another round, Clint and Bruce went to play against Steve and Bucky. The two of you instead stood against the kitchen counter and chatted. 

It was mostly just banter, but it was going pretty well until Wanda showed up, looking quite unhappy.

“I’m not feeling well. I want to go home,” she looked at Natasha before turning to you. 

She looked pretty drunk, but you weren’t sure if you would say she looked _sick_. You made it clear you were looking for Vision but found him passed out on the couch from drinking too much.

You turn your attention back to Wanda and Natasha, and gave the redhead an apologetic smile.

“Alright, Wanda. Let’s get you home,” you tell her and she tries to walk but stumbles, causing you to reach out and grab her. She leans against you with her eyes closed.

“Sorry, Natasha. I’m going to head out and take Wanda since I haven’t drank. It was really nice to meet you and congratulations again.”

Natasha stops you from leaving for a second, grabbing a pen from the counter. She scribbles something on your hand, and when she’s done, you take a quick look to see it’s her number.

“Call me,” Natasha purrs, and you’re about to reply, but Wanda is tugging on your sleeve. You just give Natasha a smile and wrap your arm around Wanda’s waist to help her walk.

At the stairs, you place her on the step as you find her shoes to help her put it on. She’s quite compliant now, grinning a little as you slip on her flats.

“I’m like Cinderella,” she giggles.

You give a snort in response, “and what? I’m your pumpkin carriage ride?”

You’re helping her outside and placing her gently into the passenger seat and strapping her in. You really hope she doesn’t vomit as you get into the driver seat and drive off.

“ _No_ ,” she whines like you’re supposed to get it. “Obviously, you put my shoes on. You’re my prince!” 

You can’t help but laugh because she sounds ridiculous. 

“Anyway,” Wanda says. “You’re getting along with Natasha really well.”

You turn over to look at Wanda, but she has her head against the window with her eyes closed so you can’t really tell exactly what she meant by that.

“Yes,” you say slowly. “She’s great.”

You hear Wanda grumble something under her breath that sounded strangely like, “ _I’m great,_ ” but you can’t be sure.

When you arrive at Wanda’s house, you get out to open the passenger door and try to wake her up. She grumbles and throws her arms around your neck, and you’re stuck trying to half-drag, half-carry her to the door. You pull her keys from her pockets and help her up to her room. She mumbles that it’s the farthest room in the back.

When you settle her on the bed with a huff, you’re thinking that you need to start working out again. Not that Wanda was heavy, you’re just that out of shape.

Wanda shifts a couple times to get comfortable, and you just look at how adorable she is. Looking around, you look at the bedroom Wanda and Vision share. It seems like Wanda had mostly styled it. There was a giant picture of them at the beach together. You walk over the ledge to look at the smaller picture frames. 

There were some of Vision and Wanda, a couple of the friends you had met today, but there was one photo of Wanda together with a man you didn’t recognize. He had his arm wrapped around Wanda, and her arm was around his waist as they laughed.

“That was Pietro…my twin brother.”

You turn around to see Wanda still lying in bed against her pillows, but her eyes were now open.

You walk over and sit next to her on the bed. “I didn’t know you had a brother.”

Wanda’s eyes flutter lightly as she looks downward. “I don’t anymore…”

Your heart race is picking up a little, you gently put your hand over hers. “ _Hey, hey_ , you don’t have to explain anything to me. I’m sorry.”

Wanda just shakes her head, wiping her tear. “No, sorry. It’s fine. It’s just…still hard to believe he’s gone sometimes.”

You shift against the bed a little more, but Wanda scoots over for you so you can sit next to her.

“It was just really sudden,” she starts, looking at the ceiling. “That morning it was normal, I had even called him to chat. But then in the middle of the night, the police show up at my door saying he was just at the wrong place, wrong time. He was shot many times because he witnessed a bank robbery.” It was the alcohol that made Wanda’s emotions so frayed as she choked on a sob. You wrapped your arm around her shoulder and pulled her into your arms.

“Shh, I’m _so_ sorry, Wanda.” You say. You’re mostly sorry for bringing up such unpleasant memories, but Wanda just cries in your arms, her shoulders heaving as you rub her arm and back. 

Eventually, the crying stops, but she doesn’t leave your embrace.

“Sorry,” she says hoarsely. “I don’t know what came over me.”

You merely just rub her arm in response and softly ask, “When did he pass?”

“It’ll be 3 years in a week,” she tells you. It’s just before Wasteland, so you’re surprised that she would want to go, but everyone has their way of grieving.

It’s silent for a moment until Wanda speaks up again. “Have you ever lost anyone?”

You look up at the ceiling for a bit before turning to her.

“Not like you have,” you say softly. “But my aunt passed away when I was 16. I was mostly raised by her since my parents were constantly working. My aunt was pretty much everyone I needed back then.”

“What happened?” Wanda asks, softly, leaning against your shoulder.

“Cancer. It came back pretty aggressively,” you say, reminiscing the past briefly.

“Sorry,” Wanda says, a little muffled.

You chuckle softly and shake your head. “It’s alright, my aunt was pretty intense about me accepting her death. Snarky little thing she was,” you said, and Wanda couldn’t help but chuckle.

“I remember when she first caught me smoking. _Oh boy_ , she was so damn mad, I thought my life would end there. But then she went eerily calm, and that’s when you know you’re in deep shit with her. The goddamn woman made me smoke an entire pack at once. I still gag when I smell cigarettes.” You say, shivering at the memory.

Wanda bursts out into laughter, and you smile at your success in getting her to do so. 

Wanda starts to open up, sharing stories about Pietro, laughing as she recalled some of them.

“He used to take me to Manhattan beach and make paprikash. He would always make it a picnic, and we would sit out there for hours, just remembering what it was like back in Sokovia.”

“How long were you in Sokovia?” You asked.

“We immigrated when we became 18 since our parents were gone.”

You nodded and looked over at her again. Her eyes were threatening to close, but she was fighting to hang on.

You turn your head away and put the back of your hand to your mouth, trying to not laugh at how cute she was.

“Alright, you. That’s enough for one night. You need to sleep.” You tell her, getting ready to get up and leave, but Wanda holds onto you.

“Stay,” she says, and you look confused. “Just until I fall asleep. Please?”

You take a deep breath in but nod and move back to your spot. Wanda settles in under the blanket this time, and it’s not long at all before she falls asleep.

You’re looking at the photo of Pietro and Wanda through the dark the best you can, tapping your leg idly.

Another moving piece.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶

You don’t have too much time to spend time or chat with Wanda the next week because you’re preparing your set and making sure everything is perfect for Wasteland. You do manage to call Natasha as she asked. It’s mostly spent with her asking about Wasteland and how to prepare for the event. It felt like she was expecting you to ask her on a date, but you were saving that.

That week, you had also spent time looking for a restaurant that served authentic paprikash. You managed to find one, but it was a little out of your way. You still went, of course. It was owned by an old woman who ran it with her son.

You ordered the dish, and it tasted amazing. While you had nothing to really compare it to, it felt right. You probably sat there for hours trying to figure out what was going on in the dish with an insane amount of Googling.

After sitting for two hours, the old woman came up to you and sat down.

“What is it that you want?” She asked with a heavy accent, looking at you suspiciously. “Are you trying to steal recipe?”

“What? No!” You say but then pause. “Well, I guess kind of, but not to sell. My friend is from Sokovia, and she gets homesick sometimes…I just want to learn how to make this for her and hopefully make her happier.”

The old woman just stares at you before getting up and walking off. You think she’s just going to leave you alone again until she turns back.

“Well? Are you coming?” She says with a raise of her wrinkly brow.

You get up automatically and follow the old woman into the back. She pulls out the ingredients and puts it in front of you.

“You will start with seasoning chicken…”

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶

It’s early in the morning of Pietro’s death anniversary. You’re just planning to bring some paprikash to Wanda since you’re pretty sure Vision is spending the day with her.

You have other things to do during the day, but around late evening, you make the dish. You’ve damn near perfected it at this point with the help of the old lady.

You get the contents into a cordless slow cooker and carefully bring it into your car. When you drive over to Wanda’s, you see the lights on. You bring the pot over and use your elbow to ring the doorbell.

To your surprise, Vision answers the door.

“Oh,” he says, looking confused. “Hello.”

“Hey…” you say. “Wanda home?”

Vision purses his lips and rubs the back of his neck.

“Um…today is kind of…” He starts, but you cut him off.

“I know what today is,” you tell him, trying to not roll your eyes.

“Oh,” Vision says, looking surprised. “Okay. Well, Wanda has told me she is someone who prefers to spend this day alone. She pretty much spends it at the beach the entire day.”

You’re floored at his response.

He’s seriously never tried to do anything for her on this day?

You almost want to laugh in his face.

“Right…” You say. “Cool, well, bye.”

Without saying anything else, you turn and walk off back to your car.

You had an idea. You just needed to get a couple things from the store first.

When you got to the beach, the sun was setting. There were still many people walking around, but most were beginning to leave. Carrying everything you could in your bags and hands, you set up your picnic. 

With a sigh of relief, you sit down and pull out your phone. Holding the phone against your chin, you think for a moment.

With what Vision said, she was most likely already here. You look over to the pier and see many couples walking along it. 

Then you see _her_. 

She’s someone you would never miss. She was sitting at the edge, feet dangling over the water with her back turned to you.

You grinned and dial her number. From a distance, you could see her pull out her phone from her pocket, staring at it. For a second, you don’t think she’s going to pick up, but at the last second, she does.

She calls your name out a little confusedly.

“You know,” you start. “Pretty girls shouldn’t sit alone on a pier. There’s a high probability of attracting trouble.”

There’s silence on the line for a moment.

 _“And how would you know that?”_ She asks, and you see her turn her head left and right as if to search for you.

“Mostly because well, you’re a pretty girl, and I’m like 95% sure the dude on your right behind you is planning your kidnapping.”

_“You think I’m pretty?”_

You laugh, “ _Seriously_? Of all things I say, that’s what you catch on?”

Wanda looks behind her and does see the guy creepily gazing at her, but she’s searching around again.

 _“Where are you?”_ She asks, obviously knowing you’re close by. 

“Behind you on your left…keep turning….stop.” You guide her, and she makes direct eye contact with you even though you’re a bit away. You think that’s her jaw-dropping, but it’s a little too far for you to discern for sure.

“ _Oh my god, what are you doing?_ ” Wanda says, standing up.

“Well, come over and find out,” You say and hang up the phone.

It takes a couple minutes for Wanda to reach where you are, but when she does, she’s in awe at everything.

“What is this?” She asks, tears welling up in her eyes.

You get up and stand in front her, putting on a nervous grin. “I know today…well… _sucks_. And I know it’s not the same as him being here, but you deserve more than just sitting on a pier by yourself.”

Pulling her to sit down on the pillow, she looks at everything.

“How did you know?” She asks.

“Well…I…I guess I stopped by earlier and Vision told me…I stopped by to give you…well, this.” You awkwardly stumble over your words but turn to the slow cooker and open the lid. The food is still piping hot as you left the cooker on to prevent the food from getting cold. The aroma immediately hits the air, and Wanda groans happily.

“Is that paprikash?” She asks, eyes wide with a small smile.

“I sure hope so…” you mumble. It wasn’t that you doubted the old lady (well you kind of did), but Wanda was trying it, and you were nervous as fuck. This was a dish she ate with her deceased brother. 

Wanda grabs a bowl and the ladle you brought along and scoops herself some. You’re trying to not obsessively watch her as she tries her first bite, but you’re definitely waiting with bated breath. 

She closes her eyes and hums satisfyingly, and you release the breath you were holding.

“Wow, this tastes _just_ like home…how did you know how to make it?” Wanda asks, scooping more into her mouth.

You relax a little, scooping some yourself to eat.

“There’s actually a restaurant owned by this old Hungarian woman about 40 minutes away from where we live. I went to eat there last week and pretty much loitered until she showed me how to make it…provided I’m not opening my own restaurant.” You say as if it wasn’t a big deal, happily eating your meal. 

You notice Wanda just staring at you, lips turned slightly upward as she softly but intently gazes at you. She then turns her attention down to your fingers that have a couple band-aids on it. You follow her eyes and sheepishly laugh.

“Yeah…I wouldn’t say cooking is my strongest skill and she takes paprikash _very_ seriously.” You flashback to the number of times you accidentally nicked your finger or burnt it on the stove. 

Wanda is looking even more endearingly at you, and you internally feel the satisfaction. 

“Thank you,” she says sincerely, putting down her finished bowl. “This was really sweet of you.”

You just smile in return and shrug your shoulders. “Don’t spend this day completely alone, okay? I would hate to hunt you down again.”

Wanda smile as you, glint in her eyes as she relaxes. 

“Perhaps that wouldn’t be bad.”


	5. Part V

**[DRIVE HER CRAZY SETLIST](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyoBTmS9YOpZ7sUKvbWyT9s_ACTA3bLHf) 🎶**

It was incredibly hot out, but you basked in the warmth. You had to head to Wasteland earlier to ensure everything was good to go with the equipment and sound check. You decided to stay and relax with a drink. Wanda, Vision, and Natasha wouldn’t be on the ground until the evening to hear some of the more prominent names play.

Your cell began to vibrate in your pocket.

“Hey, you’re going to be here later, right?” You answer, knowing it who was right away.

 _“Of course, bitch, I wouldn’t I miss this for anything. Boyfriend is just getting ready, and we’re going to eat first before coming.”_ David said through the line.

You smile.

“Perfect. I’ll introduce you to Wanda later then. Don’t forget what you promised me.”

You could hear an exasperated sigh on the other side. _“How could I forget when you literally text me every day about it. I can’t believe you’re going to use the favor I owe you on her instead of yourself.”_

“A favor’s a favor. Besides, I think when you meet her, you’ll forget it’s a favor.”

_“Big words you’re talking there.”_

“I certainly put the money where my mouth is.” You could tell David was grinning.

 _“Alright, I’ll see you later. The man is ready to go to eat.”_ David says, and you bid him goodbye briefly before the line disconnects.

The festival had provided you a tent to rest in behind the stage. You had nearly dozed off when your phone went off again. It was a text message from Wanda.

_Hey, we’re here. Where should we meet you?_

You quickly text a reply to Wanda and leave the tent. You meet up at one of the drink stations and smile as you approach the three. Vision looks like he’s a little out of place, and you almost feel for him.

Wanda looked amazing with her shorts, blouse, and converse. She had a couple necklaces on and rings on her fingers like she usually did, but the sun was just hitting her the right way. You made sure to not linger on her too long and focused your attention to Natasha who looked good as well.

“You guys made it,” you say as you walk up to them, adjusting your sling bag. over your shoulder.

Wanda comes to embrace you and your pat her back affectionately but signaling her to let go. Once she does, you walk over to Natasha, who also gives you a hug in greeting. When you part, you make sure to slide your hands down her arms intimately. She’s smirking at you while you grin.

Your eyes catch something though, and you frown a little at it. You lift your hand to her ear and lightly brush her hair behind it to get a better look. She’s looking at you intently, and you can feel Wanda’s eyes on your back.

“You don’t have earplugs?” You ask Natasha.

Natasha looked confused for a second. “No? I didn’t know I would need to have them.”

Your finger brushes her lobe lightly, and you bring your hand back to bring your sling bag around to the front of your body. You open it up and pull out a new pair of earplugs still in its packaging.

“Here, take these. Make sure you’re wearing these if you’re close to the stage, I don’t want you to go deaf.” You hand them to her, and Natasha is smiling at you.

“You sure?” She asks, and you nod.

“Yeah, these are my backup pair so no worries.” You turn your head to look over at Wanda who quickly smiles as soon as you’re looking at her. Her hair is tucked behind her ears, and you see she has only one in currently. The other she must be waiting to put in when she’s close to the stage. It wasn’t her first festival, after all.

The first thing you do is buy everyone a drink. Since you’re working later, you don’t drink as much.

“Is it hard to be in this kind of environment without getting drunk?” Natasha asks. You chuckle and tilt your head left and right to indicate ‘kind of.’

“At festivals like this, it’s easier to be in this section as you’re cut off from the general public. Less crowded. When I’m playing gigs at clubs or other venues, I typically only mingle for a bit before or after my set and then leave.”

“How kind of you to stick it out here with the rest of us then,” Natasha teases.

“Have to collect on your promise somehow,” you flirt right back causing Natasha’s mouth to quirk upwards.

In the background, Wanda was watching the two of you, holding her drink a little tightly.

“Wanda,” Vision called, but she didn’t even hear it even though he was right in front of her.

“Wanda!” He calls again, and this time she whips her head at him, eyes wide.

“What?” She asks, willing her eyes to not go back to you and Natasha.

God, what was wrong with her today?

Vision gives her a concerned look but doesn’t say anything.

“How long are we staying?” He asks instead. Festivals weren’t really his scene, wasn’t his type of music, or what he could consider fun.

He only went because there was an odd feeling nagging him that he shouldn’t let Wanda go alone.

“I want to stay until it ends,” Wanda tells him, then nodding over to you with her chin. “She doesn’t play until tonight because she’s the opening act.”

Vision immediately frowns. That was a lot longer than he was expecting.

Wanda and Vision begin to bicker a little about how long they were going to stay.

“Vision,” Wanda finally says, a hint of irritation and frustration in her tone. “I’m _staying_. You can leave whenever you want to, I’m not forcing you to stay. I’m just saying it would be more fun if we’re here together.”

Vision doesn’t say anything back but sighs and nods. Wanda doesn’t really know if that means he’s staying or leaving earlier, but she doesn’t want to argue with him anymore. Lately, he’s been very strange.

Resolved to lift her spirits, she tells everyone they should get closer to the stage and dance. She can’t help but stare at you and Natasha dancing together. You were behind the redhead, pressed up against her, and seemingly saying something in her ear before helping her with her earplugs, and tapping the beat of the music against Natasha’s ribs.

Vision, seemingly trying to make up for bickering with Wanda earlier, grabs Wanda’s hand to twirl her around and pulls her close.

It’s a good couple of hours they’re out there listening to the music and dancing. You’re feeling pretty parched, and everyone follows you out to grab water. You run your fingers through your fringe, running it all the way back to help with the heat.

You’re supposed to be playing soon, so you’ll need to leave to go prep. Everyone is going to walk around until you’re about to play and will then make their way up front to the stage.

Suddenly, your phone is vibrating again. You pull it out see that it’s David who has arrived on the grounds.

“Hey,” you say to everyone. “I have another friend who came to see me play. I’ve been wanting to introduce you to him.”

You lead them in the direction David says he’s at. He’s at another drink station, and you can see him in the distance drinking and laughing with his boyfriend. He spots you in the distance and excitedly waves you over.

You walk over, and he pulls you into a hug. “My god, California is doing you wonders.”

David checks you over, you slap him lightly, and he laughs. His boyfriend stands up and gives you a hug as well.

“How are you, Liam?” You ask him and he tells a short tidbit on how he’s been.

After that, David is looking at the people behind you, and you turn and smile.

“As I told you, David, this Natasha, Wanda, and Vision.” You tell David, and he nods in greeting to them with a smile, keeping his eye on Wanda.

You turn to the three and smile. “This is my friend, D–”

“David King,” Wanda breathes out in awe. You chuckle lightly. David goes to shake everyone’s hand, saving Wanda for last.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe I’m standing with David King right now,” Wanda whispers.

“Who’s David King?” Vision asks with a confused expression. David isn’t offended, but he does turn to you, giving you a look.

“Vis,” Wanda says, almost embarrassedly. “David King is a renowned photographer. All of his works are insanely famous. Anyone he’s worked with blows up. He’s known as the Golden Eye in the industry.”

Vision furrows his brows but nods with a soft, “Oh.”

David is smiling at Wanda, “Sounds like you know your stuff.”

Wanda nods enthusiastically. “Of course! My favorite work of yours is the piece you did in Italy in the countryside. It was so beautiful, it made me feel like a child.”

David raises his eyebrow at Wanda, feeling impressed, and you knew why. Out of all of David’s work, that piece was his least popular because the purpose of it wasn’t to make anyone or anything famous. It just showcased the land and some local people.

But it was special to David because that was his hometown, where he had grown up.

He sighs, looking at you and you smirk. David turns back to Wanda, pulling out his business card and holding it out to her. She takes it, eyes wide.

“I’m still working on a project, but I’ll be done in about 6 weeks. Call this number, and my assistant will make sure you’re booked in. We’ll start collaborating then.” David says, and Wanda is shellshocked. He winks at her before turning over to you.

“You’ve got a good eye. I’ll catch you later for your set.” David gives you one last hug and walks off with his boyfriend.

Wanda just turns to you. “Oh my god, am I dreaming? How did you do this?”

You just laugh at her, “I didn’t really do anything. David just owes me a favor, but even I can’t force him to work with anyone he doesn’t want to. He agreed to at least meet you and clearly he liked you. That was definitely all you.”

Wanda just squeals, jumping onto you with her legs wrapped around your body. You let out a surprised yelp, immediately having to put your arms around her to keep her from falling as you laugh. Her arms are wrapped around your neck, and she’s peering down on your face.

“You’re seriously too amazing,” she says, and you just roll your eyes teasingly to play it off. You gently set her down, ruffling your hair again, looking at your watch.

“Alright, I gotta head over to prepare for the set. Grab some more drinks and put it under my name. See you at the front.” You turn to Natasha, looking at her ears again and you softly lift your fingers underneath her hair to touch her ear.

“Don’t forget your earplugs,” you tell her softly and she smiles at you and nods. You wiggle your fingers at them and walk off.

Vision turns to Wanda and sighs. “I’m going to go. Don’t stay out too late.”

Wanda frowns at him. “Now? She’s just about to play.”

“I’m quite tired,” Vision says, and Wanda doesn’t say anything even though she’s a little upset, but she doesn’t want to argue with him again. He kisses her forehead and walks off.

With Natasha left, the two girls go grab another drink before heading to the front of the stage.

“She treats you really good,” Natasha comments as they’re walking. Wanda turns her head over to look at Natasha.

“Yeah, I suppose she does.”

“Vision told Tony about how she spent the day with you on Pietro’s anniversary too.”

Wanda narrows her eyes as they’re nearing the front of the stage.

“Yeah, she’s a good friend,” Wanda says, not sure what the problem is.

Natasha nods, smiling at the younger girl. “Yes, a _friend_. Thanks for introducing her to me.”

The redhead puts her earplugs in as the stage begins to flash. Wanda bites her lip, refraining from grabbing Natasha’s earplugs out and throwing them as far as she could. She wanted to scream that she met you first, you were hers!

Wanda huffed silently. She wasn’t too good at sharing, and you were a _really_ good friend.

Shaking her head, she focused back on the stage. People were cheering around her as you came out with your mask.

The beat drummed along Wanda’s spine, and she closed her eyes, dancing away. A couple songs in, Natasha seemed to get a call and a text. She swore loudly, grabbing your attention.

“Tony has a work emergency, I need to head over immediately. Tell her I’ll call later,” Natasha says, looking at the stage once more before making her way out the crowd.

You were getting into your groove when you saw Natasha look at you, holding her phone up slightly with an apologetic look as she left the crowd. You were a little confused, but you assumed something happened. You look over at Wanda who is just beaming at you.

Smiling at her, you point to her, telling her the next song is for her.

Wanda throws her head back and lets out a laugh you can’t even hear and blows you a playful kiss.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶

An hour passes by quick and before you know it, your time is over. You introduce the main act tonight, getting the crowd hyped up before you leave the stage. Backstage, you take off your mask and put your laptop away securely so you can bring it to your car later.

You make your way out into the crowd, finding Wanda in the same spot. She’s still dancing on her own as you come up behind her. When you tap her shoulder, she turns around and smiles widely at you, putting her arms around your neck to pull you into a hug.

“You were amazing!” Wanda yells loudly enough that it makes through your earplugs and the music. She looks a little flushed from the heat and dancing, so you hand her some water you brought along. She looks at you gratefully, taking a huge gulp of water. She gives it back to you, and you put it away in your sling bag, adjusting it back around you.

Some drunk YouTuber is flailing around dancing next to you. He’s nearly knocking into Wanda, so you wrap your arm across her collarbone to her other shoulder, pulling her closer to you and away from this menace. He’s getting too aggressive, and security at the front actually comes up to him, dragging him away from the crowd.

You sigh, rolling your eyes. You’re about to let go, but Wanda puts her hands up and settles them against your arm to keep it there. She leans her head back, resting against your shoulder and gets you both to sway with the music.

You settle your fingers more comfortably on Wanda’s arm just right under her shoulder. Your fingers automatically start tapping along with the beat, and you feel her body vibrate against you as she giggles.

The song changes and the beat starts to pick up much more. The crowd begins to jump with their hands in the air, but Wanda just spins around, facing you so close that your noses are nearly touching.

You’re both jumping to the music, but you can only focus on how you could feel her breath on your lips.

It feels like everything is happening in slow motion as you grab her hips and pull her close to you. You’re biting your tongue to hold the groan that wants to come out of your mouth, and she’s smirking at you.

Wanda closes her eyes, tilting her head back more, exposing her neck to you as she enjoys the music.

God, she was so fucking _hot_. You’re telling yourself to be patient, but you can’t help it when your lips ghost over her neck and she sighs.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶

The two of you stay until the event is over. You’re currently driving her home because apparently, Vision was her ride. Then Natasha was going to drive her home, but she also left. She still seems full of energy as she’s singing along to the radio dramatically and dancing in her seat the best she can.

You’re just smiling as you have one hand on the wheel and the other perched up on the window ledge with your head in it.

“I don’t want to go home yet,” Wanda whines.

You chuckle since it’s 3am, but you humor her.

“Alright,” you tell her, changing the route. You take her back to Manhattan Beach, and since it’s so late, there’s no one but the two of you. Getting out of the car, you guys are walking on the pier, admiring the view.

Taking a seat on the edge, you both let your bare feet swing over the water. Wanda is leaning against you, head on your shoulder as she sighs in contentment.

When she looks up at you, she grins. “What are you thinking about?”

You tilt her head down to look at her, a small smile gracing your lips.

“What I’m going to do next,” you tell her. “I don’t have any more gigs after this.”

Wanda sits up immediately, frowning. “You’re leaving?”

You shrug in response. “I did only come here for work.”

“Didn’t you say if you enjoyed it enough, you would consider moving?” Wanda recalls from the first night you both met.

“Can’t say if I’m enjoying myself enough,” you tell her hauntingly with a smirk. Wanda just laughs and slaps you on the shoulder as you rear back.

“I do actually have some collab offers to work with some local artists around here,” you tell Wanda after a moment, making sure you sound unsure if you were going to take it or not.

“You can’t leave yet,” Wanda tells you seriously. “My birthday is in a month, and I refuse to let you miss my party.”

While you knew her birthday was coming up, you grin at her attempt to make you stay. You had, of course, knew you were going to stay longer. You even already lined up some collabs to keep you busy.

Everything was progressing well, better than you may have even hoped for. You certainly didn’t miss Wanda glaring at Natasha all day, and from the looks of it, things were getting tense between Vision and Wanda.

You licked your lips, lost in thought. There was just _something_ about Wanda that made you want her and keep her. You were entirely invested in seeing her edge.

“Well,” you say, your lips curled upwards. “I suppose I can’t miss your birthday. What a crime that would be.”

Wanda nods satisfyingly, settling back next to you with her head on your shoulder. “It would be. So, what are you getting me?”

She sounds so cheeky you can’t even hold back your laughter. “Aren’t presents supposed to be a surprise?”

You had known her birthday had been coming long before and had started working on it since the trust fund kid’s party. It was coming along together nicely, and you were just waiting for a call.

“Just a little hint?” Wanda negotiates, and you jut your chin out and purse your lips.

“How do you feel about crocs?” You ask, trying to not cackle. Wanda sits back up, narrowing her eyes at you.

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Ask again about your present and I just might,” You warn her, eyes twinkling.

Wanda’s jaw drops, and then she shakes her head, “And you call _me_ wicked.”

The corner of your lip quirks up.

“You have no idea.”


	6. Part VI

“No, that’s wonderful. Of course. Yes. If you could send it over to me. Thank you again.” 

You sigh as you hang up your phone, a huge smile on your face. You had finally gotten your present for Wanda. She was going to be so ecstatic. A couple of weeks had passed by so quickly. 

That night after Wasteland, you and Wanda had stayed out all night, even falling asleep a little at the pier. When you had dropped Wanda at home, the two of you could see the lights on, indicating that Vision was awake, most likely waiting for her. 

You gave her a soft smile and told her she could text or call you later. You met up with her a couple days after to help plan her party. She was renting out a venue as it was going to be a big gathering. All of her friends and work friends were going to be there. She needed help choosing catering and a live band. She had shown up at the meeting spot with a huff which caused you to raise your brow at her.

She confided to you that Vision and her have been fighting a lot more lately. It just seemed that Vision was on edge but wouldn’t say why that was, and she couldn’t figure it out.

You, of course, offered her comfort, which she soaked up greedily. You could only suspect why Vision was on edge. Wanda was spending a lot of time with you, drawing away from him. You didn’t interact with him enough for him to consider you just her ‘gal pal.’ 

You told Wanda to not worry about the live band, you would take care of that. As for the catering, you scheduled tastings that day to see which one would be best. The experience had you thinking that it felt like you were doing wedding things together. Wanda seemed to enjoy herself as well, often feeding you a spoonful of the dishes to see your opinion. 

When you had finished the catering, she told you everything else was handled, so you went to get desert together. Wanda had seemed to finally resign to the fact that you were always going to pay when you were together. 

In the middle of eating and chatting, your phone began to go off. When you looked at your phone, you saw that it was Natasha that was calling you. She had been pretty busy with some kind of work emergency with Tony. You gave Wanda an apologetic smile as you picked the call. Wanda pursed her lips, stirring her ice cream in her cup a little as she watched you talk on the phone. 

Natasha says the crisis had been averted and invited you to have dinner with her. You agreed and hung up the phone. When you told Wanda it was time to go as you needed to get ready for your date with Natasha, she seemed like she was going to say something but stopped herself. 

In the car, she had asked you outright if you were now dating Natasha. You told her vaguely it was just a date, neither indicating if you wanted to date the redhead or not.

Since then, Wanda had been a little silent, which had you smirking.

As it was nearing the day of the party, you had lunch with Natasha again at her request. You had brought some takeout and was currently carrying it to her office. 

When you arrived at Stark Towers, a security guard named Happy checked you down before allowing you through.

“Miss Romanoff is on the 30th floor, room 204.”

You thanked him and took your guest pass to the elevator. There was an automated voice in the elevator asking which floor you would like.

You knew Tony Stark was an inventor, but even you were impressed with what he has built and achieved.

Knocking on the door, you heard Natasha’s soft voice telling you to enter. She smiled when she saw you.

“Hey, stranger,” she greeted you with her husky voice and a soft jilt her lips. You looked around her office and whistled as you put down the food. Not shabby at all.

“Stranger?” You said with an amused tone. “We saw each other two days ago.”

“Maybe that’s too long,” Natasha quipped back, getting up to stand right in front of you. You quirk your lips at her, tilting your head slightly downwards to capture her lips in a soft kiss as you put her hand on the juncture of her jaw and neck. Natasha leaned into it, putting her arms around your waist. 

When you both pulled back, the redhead sighed with a soft smile. “Tell me again why we aren’t officially dating?”

You chuckle at her, pulling away to unpack the food. “Pretty sure it was you that said you had a lot going on currently and wanted to take things slow.”

You had started to officially see Natasha for about two weeks now. It was at a late-night dinner over at her place that she kissed you. The kisses had gotten so heated, but before anything else could happen, the redhead stopped. You then learned that she and Bruce had dated seriously and they had just recently broken up.

She was still trying to get over it and wanted to take things slow and slow meant that she wanted to keep whatever you had going on a secret. That had changed your plans a little in the sense that it was hardly benefiting you if Wanda didn’t know.

Still, it wasn’t completely useless. Timing is everything, you reminded yourself. 

“Huh,” Natasha hummed. “Now why would I go and say that?”

You just chuckled at her joke, handing a bowl of food over to her and settled into a seat.

“So,” Natasha said, scooping some food into her mouth sitting on the armrest of the chair you were in. “Wanda’s party is next Saturday. What did you get her?”

“It’s going to be a surprise,” you tell Natasha. Since Wanda had confided in you that she had yet to share with anyone else about her aspiration on becoming an actress, you were going to be giving her present in private most likely.

“A surprise? Even from me?” Natasha asked with a quirk of her brow.

You nodded your head, chewing your food. When you looked at her expression, you put your food down, sighing as you pulled her into your lap.

“Hey, don’t make that face,” you tell Natasha, pinching her hip lightly and she wriggles in your hold.

“I would tell you, but it’s in relation to something Wanda told me in confidence. As a friend, I really value that.” When you say that, Natasha could only sigh lightly with a smile, wrapping her arms around your neck and kisses you softly.

“You really are a good friend to her,” Natasha says, respect in her tone and you smile back. With that, the two of you resume eating, making small chat.

“Vision has been bragging about his gift,” Natasha says after you both discuss what the other group members are getting her. 

“Oh, really? What’s he getting her?” You say with a bit of an amused huff. 

“Oh, he’s not getting her anything. He has apparently written her a song and is arranging to play it at her party in the evening. He’s literally telling everyone about it. Wanda is such a huge sucker for romantic gestures like that, so she’s basking in the accolades everyone is giving her. I think they might finalize their wedding date soon.” Natasha says, finishing up her food and putting it on the table.

There’s a momentary pause in you, but you continue on as normal to avoid Natasha being suspicious. 

“Oh, that’s really romantic,” you say. The topic changes and you continue the afternoon with Natasha as normal, kissing her goodbye and promising to call later when she’s off work. 

The moment you leave, your expression falls. Your jaw in a tight line as you get into your car.

You can’t let Vision play for Wanda at her party, it would really put a wrench in your plan if Wanda is swept off her feet by him.

No.

Not when you were so close. 

It would be a small price to pay, but _nothing_ and _no one_ would stop you from having Wanda.

It was time to call in a favor that was owed to you.

Throwing your Bluetooth headset, you dialed a number and drove off.

“Hey, it’s me. I heard you’re in the city. Come have dinner with me tonight, my treat.”

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶

You arrive at the restaurant in the evening. It was at a high-end restaurant that you had arranged for the meeting. The greeter at the front took your name, immediately leading you to one of the VIP rooms in the back. As he opened the door, you found you weren’t the first to arrive. 

“Hey,” you greet, with a smile. “It’s been a while, Charles. How’s the missus?”

He was a tall man, clean cut in every way possible, and a charming smile. A waiter comes and Charles orders for the both of you as you take a seat across from him.

“It’s been a hot minute,” Charles agrees. “Cheryl is doing great. How have you been? I can’t imagine that you’re here just to catch up.”

You give him a cunning grin. “Right down to business as always, Charles. You need to relax. I can’t even imagine how you’re an A&R manager like that.”

The man chuckles, adjusting his tie a little looser. “Oh trust me, I can relax plenty. But, you never come to see me unless you want something. You usually just email me what projects you’re working on and prefer that I just email you regarding any interviews or sponsorships.”

The waiter returns with a bottle of wine, pouring it for the two of you before leaving it in the ice bucket. You give the waiter a smile of thanks, taking the glass and taking a gentle sip.

“Well, I suppose you’re not wrong. I want you to sign someone on.”

Charles raises his eyebrow at you, clearly intrigued as he takes a sip from his own glass. You pull out your phone and already have Vision’s SoundCloud up. You press play, watching as Charles expression changes as he listens.

“I hope you’re kidding,” Charles asks, dead expression in his eyes.

“Not in the slightest,” You tell Charles. “Lyrics aside, he has a good physique, decent musical ability, and sings well. Ghostwriters are popular these days anyway.”

Charles eyes you with the tilt of his head and arms crossed. “Is there a particular reason you want to sign this person on?”

You nod, leaning back and crossing your legs. Your hand grabs a strand of your hair and twirls it. “He’s in the way of what I want.”

Charles sighs, rubbing his eyes blearily. “I don’t know about this, he could be a total waste.”

“Total waste or not, you _owe_ me. You got where you are today because I chose _you_ out of everyone else to sign me on to this label. That got you the bonus you needed to pay for Cheryl’s surgery.” You eye him from across the table and watch as he purses his lips and sighs in resignation. 

“Alright, fine. I’ll sign him on with a six-month contract and see where it goes.”

“One year,” you tell him. Six months was too short, in your opinion, and a lot could happen in one year. You wanted him to go on tour by then.

Charles scrunches his nose but nods. “Alright, fine. We’re even after this?”

You nod at him. “We’re even. Contact Vision next Saturday and get him to sign on.”

You spin your wine glass at the stem delicately between your fingers. “Celebrate. Make sure he understands this is his one shot and keep him busy the entire night.” 

Charles chuckles and nods just as the food is coming in. “Alright, will do. You’ve got a strange way of getting rid of things that are in your way. What if he actually becomes big?”

You smile sardonically, “I’ll make sure to send him a congratulations card signed by my girlfriend and me. She’s his biggest supporter.”

“Oh, you’ve got yourself a new girlfriend?” Charles asks, smiling at you.

“If all goes well, I will.”

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶

The day of the party, you woke up early. You delicately wrapped Wanda’s present and set it aside. Wanda had called you soon after frantically panicking about something going wrong today, so you had to spend some time calming her down and reassuring her that everything was fine and that you’d even call the hotel, the catering, and the band to triple check everything. 

The gathering was supposed to happen at 5pm tonight, so you made time to bring lunch to Natasha who told you she would meet you there as she might be a little late from work with Tony. Deciding to show up an hour earlier, you approached the venue to see Wanda running around to make sure everything was okay.

The venue was outside with a beautiful view and stage and dancing floor set up. There were flower decorations and poles with a box on top to hold a fire inside for when it got dark or cold. There were string LED lights set up as well for when it got dark.

You approach her, putting her hand on her shoulder to settle her down. 

“Hey, birthday girl,” you call, and Wanda looked so relieved to see you. “Where’s the fire?”

Wanda wraps her arms around your waist and pulls you into a tight hug. “Oh my god, this is a disaster. The catering company just let me know they’re going to be late. I don’t know what to do when people get here, and there’s going to be no food.”

You rub Wanda’s back soothingly and get her to sit in a chair. “Alright, just sit here and relax. I’m going to get someone to bring you a drink. It’s your birthday, and I feel like you running around like a chicken without its head is hardly what a birthday girl should be doing. Just let me handle this. Where’s Vision?”

Wanda leans back in her chair while you call over a server. “He’s practicing his song for tonight. He should be here when the party starts.”

You nod your head, opting to not say anything. The server comes back with a drink in hand that you pass over to Wanda. “Just sit here and relax a little, okay? Why don’t you make sure everyone you’ve invited will be here?”

Wanda nods to you with a grateful smile as you gently graze your finger on her cheek and walk off. 

Within 45 minutes, you have everything solved and walk back to Wanda, who is just finishing getting off the phone. 

“Hey,” Wanda says as you take a seat next to her, drinks in hand. “What’s going on?”

You hand her another drink and lean back in your seat with a sigh. “It’s solved. I called the catering company who is going to give you a partial refund. I arranged the hotel to serve appetizers that your guests can grab around those tables in the back there. That should probably hold them over until the catering arrives at least.”

Wanda sighs in relief, eyes fluttering closed for a moment. “Oh, thank God. How much extra is that going to cost?”

You wave your hand off at her, “Don’t even worry about that.”

“No!” Wanda says to you. “You seriously can’t.”

You just smile at her, elbow against the table as your rest your temple against your fist. “Happy Birthday, Wanda.”

“So, is this my birthday present? You saving me from disaster again?” Wanda asks with a smile on her face and eyes twinkling.

“Oh, God no,” you laugh. “That’d be too tacky.” 

You chat for another couple minutes, but Wanda tells you she’s going to go change as she booked a room at the hotel for tonight. 

It isn’t long before she’s back and some of the guests start to arrive. You recognize some of them as other social influencers Wanda has taken pictures with or was in a video with. She has photographers and brand representatives she’s worked with before. Some of her personal friends outside of the ones you’ve already met arrive as well. 

The room is beginning to fill up, and the appetizers arrive just in time for the guests along with the band who are playing live music. 

Wanda is flitting around, socializing with everyone while you’re watching the hotel workers gather the insane amount of presents into one corner. 

God, this is bigger than a wedding. 

Soon enough, you see Steve, Bucky, Bruce, Thor, and Clint arrive. There are some other people that you don’t recognize with them. They walk up to you first as Wanda is lost within the crowd somewhere.

“This is _so_ Wanda,” Clint comments with a smile and shake of his head. 

They introduce you to the people they brought with them, but honestly, the names just fly over your head since there are so many of them.

As a group, you go in search for Wanda who is currently chatting with a group of girls. As soon as she sees you guys, she turns back to the girls to say she’ll see them later and runs to guys. She immediately hugs Clint first before the rest of the group.

“Jeeze Wanda, did you invite all of California to your party?” Steve says as he hugs her. 

Wanda just laughs as they pull back. “C’mon, you know this is nowhere to Tony’s parties.”

The group seems to mumble in agreement with her. Hovering over the appetizer table, they’re all making conversation when you notice at the door Natasha, Tony, and Pepper walk in half an hour later.

They make their way over to your and Natasha hugs everyone first before saving you for last. 

“Hey,” you greet softly in her ear.

“Hey, yourself,” Natasha greets back with a smile. 

“You look amazing,” you tell the redhead, not even subtly eyeing her in a way that makes everyone look at the two of you. 

“Jesus, get a room,” Clint teases, but Natasha only smirks her lips in response.

You look at Wanda from your peripheral to see that she’s undoubtedly not smiling, but no one is currently looking at her right now.

Another half-hour passes and the catering arrives to serve everyone food. It’s you and the original gang sitting together at the table, except Vision. 

At this point, Wanda looks half irritated, and half worried that she stands up to go call to see where her fiancé is. 

When she comes back, she looks more excited but still a little irritated. 

“Where’s Vision?” Tony asks. “Isn’t he performing his undying love for you tonight?”

Wanda gives a smile as she looks at everyone, “Apparently, he got a call from an agent at a record label saying they discovered his SoundCloud. They want to meet up with him immediately to see if he will sign on because they’re flying out tonight.”

Everyone’s cheering, including yourself.

“That is the most amazing news, Wanda! Will he still be able to make it tonight?” Thor asks with his booming voice and cheery smile. 

Wanda nods, “Oh, yeah. He promised for sure that he was going to be able to make it back in time.”

You only smile as you eat your food, checking your phone discreetly at you do.

_Going over the contract in excruciatingly full detail. Celebrating will be right after all night. You’re welcome._

You read the text and put your phone away. The evening falls into the night as the band plays and everyone’s mingling and dancing. You had a couple guys approach you that you quickly shot down. Then a couple girls would approach you before Natasha would come and scare them off.

“A little territorial, aren’t we?” You tease the redhead as she huffs. 

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did I interrupt?” She deadpans, and you have to contain your laughter because you don’t think she would appreciate it. 

You grab her hand and pull her on the dance floor. You hold her hand in one, your other hand settling on her back at the base of her spine while her hand settles on your shoulder near the bottom of your neck. 

You lead her through the rhythm and steps, smiling as you do so. As you turn, you can see Wanda watching the two of you from afar along with the gang.

“Is this too much?” You ask softly. “Might get exposed at this rate.”

Natasha’s lips curl upward in a seductive smile, her lips ghosting over your own. “Every secret gets revealed eventually.”

More people start to fill the dance floor. You eventually split up from Natasha as Bucky grabs her for a dance. You danced with Steve who looked really nervous and stepped on your toes a couple times, but you reassured him and guided him through the steps. By the end of it, he was still a little robotic, but at least he wasn’t stepping on your toes. You danced with Thor, who was just a whirlwind on the floor, completely confident in guiding his partner. You were almost dizzy by the time you landed in Clint’s arms.

“So,” he starts. “You and Natasha?”

You just grin at him if this was the attempt of his protective friend talk.

“Maybe,” you say. “She’s a complicated gal.”

“You don’t seem so simple yourself,” Clint comments as his eyes move over to Wanda. 

You had to give it to him for being so perceptive. But you were sure he didn’t know quite exactly what was going on.

“No one is ever just simple,” you finally say. Wanda finishes her dance with Tony and is making her way over to the two of you.

“Just remember everything doesn’t have to be difficult either,” Clint tells you as Wanda interrupts the two of you.

“Alright, Clint, I had my birthday dance with you. She’s the only one left who owes me one.” Wanda says, and Clint looks at you but still defers to Wanda with a smile and nod.

You hold her the same way you did with Natasha, but Wanda scoots much closer to you. 

“So you and Natasha?” Wanda asks, and you let out a light chuckle.

“That seems to be the big question tonight, but I think we should focus on you today. It is your special day, after all.”

Wanda looks at you with a slight pout. “It’s my birthday, so you will answer my questions.”

You just smile at her, twirling her around.

“It’s undefined,” you confess as she comes back into your arms. You swear you could hear a sigh of relief.

“When did that even happen?” Wanda asks as if she was trying to recall all the times she saw the two of you together.

“About three weeks ago, when I had dinner with her. She wants to take it slow and slow meant keeping it a secret and undefined.”

Wanda frowns, “That doesn’t seem very fair to you.”

You just shrug, swaying with Wanda as you glide her across the dance floor. 

“It is what is.”

To stop Wanda from inquiring anymore, you twirl her in your arms before dipping her slightly as you hold her up with your hand on her back.

The song ends, so you pull her back up with a smirk since her cheeks are lightly dusted pink.

Natasha comes up at the moment, putting her hand on your shoulder.

“Drinks?” She asks, and you nod, dropping Wanda’s hand and telling her you’d see her later.

You walk off with Natasha. She looked a little tense, but you assumed that was because of her last dance with Bruce. He had been staring on and off at you and Natasha ever since you had first danced with her.

It was now a delicate situation for you. It was clear that there were a lot of things left unsaid between Natasha and Bruce, but Natasha still liked you.

Perhaps seeing Natasha move on with someone was more surprising to Bruce than he thought would affect him.

If you played this right, you could probably keep whatever you had going on with Natasha long enough before Bruce snapped and went back for Natasha.

It was a mystery on how Natasha would react to that though.

It occurred to you that you really had no idea how to read Natasha clearly. You weren’t lying to Clint when you said she was a complicated person. 

Perhaps if you could have normal relationships, Natasha would be the perfect person for you.

But you couldn’t. 

It didn’t appeal to you. 

“Damn, Vision is pushing it kind of close,” Natasha said, pulling you out of your thoughts as she ordered drinks for the two of you. You looked around and could hear some of the people commenting on how Vision was missing. 

Some of the girls who came along definitely were more jealous of Wanda than a friend. It was like they were rooting for her embarrassment.

The night continued on but as the time came closer, Wanda began to get more stressed as she was trying to find out where Vision was. He had neither texted or called her. Still, she continued on, believing that her fiancé would show up like he had promised.

It was the last half-hour before Vision was supposed to play for Wanda. The birthday girl was calling him, but it kept going to voicemail.

“Oh my god,” Wanda whispered, putting her hand to her forehead. “Where the hell is he?”

The rest of the group looked unhappy and tried to reach the man themselves, but the same thing happened as it kept ringing until it went to voicemail.

Wanda could hear some of the whispers of her guest that Vision was missing and some backhanded comments made her clench her jaw.

“This is so embarrassing,” Wanda said, turning to face the group, so she didn’t have to hear the comments as much.

The combination of her hurt, disappointed, and embarrassed expression really did break your heart. 

“Maybe something happened? I’ll call to see if there have been any accidents on the road or if he checked into any hospitals.” Clint said as he walked off with Steve and Bucky, and raised his phone to his ear. 

Fifteen minutes later, they came back with reluctant expressions.

“Nothing,” Clint said with an apologetic expression.

Wanda sighed, taking a seat at the table in front of the stage and shaking her head. “Just…tell the band to keep playing, I guess. I’ll end the party soon.”

Wanda watches as you whisper something to Natasha and walk off. Everyone is trying to comfort her, but she can’t help but feel so flustered. Vision had literally made such a big deal that he wrote her a song for her birthday and was so excited to perform it for her. He had gone and told everyone when she was inviting people to her birthday.

She was excited to hear him play for her. He had been so weird with her lately, and this was such a romantic gesture. She was basking in the congratulations she was getting.

He had talked about wanting to finalize a date for their wedding and Wanda had actually hesitated in her mind briefly before agreeing they should.

Why did she hesitate? She wanted to say she didn’t know, but if she were honest with herself, your electric eyes popped up in her mind. 

She found herself obsessing over you ever so slowly. What were you doing? Why was Natasha calling you again? God, why did you treat her so good? Did you treat Natasha this good? Why did your hands feel so hot on her?

Wanda looked at her phone again to see if Vision was returning any of her texts. God, if he isn’t seriously injured, she was going to be so pissed at him.

She could hear some girls snicker behind her again, and she closed her eyes. Damn, being a social influencer could be hallowing sometimes.

Suddenly, there was some noise from the stage and a cough into the mic that made Wanda snap her head up. She found you, in your Lady Phantom mask standing up there. You were still in your same outfit though, so people who had seen and interacted with you earlier in the day knew it was you.

You stood up there, holding a ukelele a little awkwardly as you’re more used to standing behind a DJ stand.

“Hello, everyone,” you greeted into the mic, and you heard a couple cheers from the people who recognized you or was a fan of Lady Phantom. 

“I’m Lady Phantom, here to perform for a very, very special birthday girl. It’s no original, so forgive me, but it’s most certainly dedicated to you. Happy Birthday, Wanda Maximoff.”

Wanda could hear the excited whispering from her guests and friends. People had pulled their phones as Lady Phantom has never sung before, nevermind singing live. 

She watched as you turned around, signaling the band and then started to strum your ukelele.

Wanda recognized the riff immediately. She couldn’t believe you. You were playing _Riptide by Vance Joy_ , her favorite song she mentioned in passing on the night in the Palm Desert.

_I was scared of dentists and the dark  
I was scared of pretty girls and starting conversations  
Oh, all my friends are turning green  
You’re the magician’s assistant in their dreams_

You kept eye contact with Wanda the entire time, your voice was melodic in a way no one would’ve ever guessed. Though you didn’t possess a wide vocal range and not technically adept, this song was perfect for you. You were a little breathy, and it made Wanda’s heart skip a beat. 

Wanda laughed as you winked at her, shaking her head. She couldn’t believe you were doing this for her. Saving her from disaster once more. People around her were whispering about how it was possible to get Lady Phantom to sing for her. It outshined the news that her fiancé didn’t show up. People were so vapid that they were more amazed by a hotshot DJ was here singing rather than a heartful performance from a nobody.

Wanda looked over to see Natasha watching, looking a little conflicted as it was evident that you were only focusing on Wanda. 

And it made her feel smug. 

Wanda looked back at you as you sang with your eyes closed, strumming the ukelele and tapping your foot.

You opened your eyes, looking right at Wanda. This was for her.

Everything was for her. 

_I can’t have it, I can’t have it any other way_

The background noises faded out, people were blurring away as you looked at her with an intensity that forced her to only see you. 

_I swear she’s destined for the screen  
Closest thing to Michelle Pfeiffer that you’ve ever seen, oh_

You smiled as you sang that line, and Wanda was smiling back at you, tears welling up in her eyes. Her heart was swelling up with an emotion she couldn’t even identify.

Why did it feel so right?

You were coming down to the final riff as you sang softly. 

_Lady, running down to the riptide_   
_Taken away to the dark side_   
_I wanna be your left hand man_   
_I love you when you’re singing that song and_   
_I got a lump in my throat ‘cause_   
_You’re gonna sing the words wrong_

The song soon came to an end as you strummed the last note. The crowd erupted in cheers for you, phone flashes going off as photos were being taken. Wanda stood up, clapping as well. People were still recording as you bent down, kneeling on the stage on one knee in front of Wanda as you gave her the ukelele. She turned it over on the back to see your signature on it and a short message.

_Happy Birthday, Lady_

_From your left-hand man,_

_Lady Phantom_

A tear slipped out of Wanda’s eyes as she looked at you with a gigantic smile. You softly used your index finger to poke her nose with a smirk before getting up, waving to the crowd, and walked off the stage. 

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶ 

The party went on for another hour before Wanda ended it and bid all of her guests’ goodnight and thank you for coming to the party.

It was pretty crazy after you had come off the stage. You had decided to keep your mask on afterward even though there were people who had seen you without it. But now, with all the flashing photos, you did want to minimize the amount of exposure you were going to get. 

It was increasingly difficult to be able to spend time with Wanda or Natasha after as you constantly kept having groups of people come up to you and chat you up or ask for a photo. 

A girl had come up to you too close for comfort and asked for a photo. You saw Natasha watching you in the distance with an unimpressed look before smirking at you a little. 

You chuckled awkwardly at the girl clinging to you after the photo was taken, using your hands to pry her off as you walked off briskly to Natasha.

Seemingly standing with the redhead, she emitted an aura that prevented anyone else from coming up. You sighed in relief while Natasha asked her arms crossed.

“Quite the romantic gesture you did,” she commented. 

You pursed your lip at her. “C’mon Natasha, it’s Wanda’s birthday. Her fiancé is missing in action after making such a big deal about his performance. She looked crushed and really embarrassed. I couldn’t just let that happen on her birthday.”

Natasha eyes you for a moment before sighing and uncrossing her arms. “I know, I was seriously going to beat some of these girls’ asses for making snide comments about Wanda. Why did she even invite half these people?”

“Networking,” you answer, adjusting your mask. 

Natasha made a disgruntled noise and looked at you again. 

“Come home with me tonight,” she tells you. You smile at her with a nod. The party was ending with people leaving.

“I’ll have to meet you later though, I still have to give Wanda her gift.” You tell the redhead who nods. She looks around to see everyone occupied and turns back to kiss you lightly on the cheek and leaves. 

You stay back until everyone has left, grabbing your present from the stack that had gathered. Wanda looks incredibly exhausted as you approach her.

“Let’s go to my room,” Wanda says, grabbing your hand and drags you off while the hotel staff starts cleaning up. They tell her they’ll have her gifts send to her room in the morning and keep it locked up for tonight. Ukelele in hand, Wanda lets go your hand to press the floor to her place in the elevator. With it now just the two of you, you relax a little more, the tension leaving from your shoulders.

“Your friends are kind of insane,” you mumble, referring more to her social influencer group of friends. 

“Yeah…I wouldn’t call Stacey a friend really. She’s pretty new and can be…aggressive,” Wanda says with a crinkle in her brow. You smile lightly, using your finger to press against the crinkle and watches as it fades out as Wanda looks at you. 

The elevator dings to signal you’ve arrived on the 20th floor. Wanda grabs your hand again and drags you out and down the hall to her room. She opens the door with her key pass and shuts the door behind you. 

With a sigh, she gently sets down the ukelele you gave her. The room is pretty dark, but Wanda doesn’t make any move to turn on the lights. She had a pretty good suite with the window facing the outside view.

Moonlight shined through the open curtains illuminating the room. When you turn around, Wanda is there, and she lifts her hands to gently take off your mask, smiling as your eyes framed by your long lashes come into view. 

It’s silent for a moment as Wanda puts your mask on the table. You just stand there, staring at each other. 

It’s more intimate than any kiss or sex you’ve ever had. 

“Thank you,” Wanda finally says. “Thank you for the beautiful performance, for saving me from embarrassment. You always seem to be my knight in shining armor.”

You chuckle softly, shifting to your other foot. 

“I would hardly call you a damsel in distress,” you tease her softly. Then you lift your present in your hand to her. She stares at the box in confusion. 

“What’s this?” She asks.

“Your present?” You reply with a raise of your brow and smirk. 

“You mean the ukelele isn’t my present?” Wanda asks, turning her eyes over to the instrument she had laid down. 

You let out a bark of laughter. “Oh, God, no. I don’t even know what you’d do with a ukelele. Can you even play? No, _God, no_. I just had that in the back of my car for my new collab I was working on this week. I can get another one.”

Wanda just let out a tiny smile, and she grabs the beautifully wrapped gift from your hand. She pulls the string to undo the bow and lets it fall to the ground. Placing the box to rest against her forearm, she lifts the lid and stares at the content confusedly. 

She grabs out the thin stack of paper that is neatly stabled together. 

“What…is this?” Wanda asks, eyeing the front page that only had a title on it.

“Your script,” you answer with a smile. “You’ll need to learn it for your audition in eight weeks.”

Wanda just looks at you, shellshocked. She looks back at the script and then back to you.

“What?” She asks, disbelief in her tone. You just continue to smile.

She drops the box and flips through the script. The first couple of pages had the characters and premise of the story. The rest only had a particular scene, but when she read it, she loved it. 

“How did you…? What?” Wanda asks again, and you laugh.

“It’s not guaranteed, but I know someone who is doing auditions for a movie he’s directing. He’s willing to give you a shot even though you have no portfolio in acting. It did make it better you’re a social influencer, and I did tell him even David is going to be working with you.”

Wanda is just smiling, letting out a burst of laughter in shock. Wanda just watches as you turn around, babbling about how you had complete faith in her she was going to nail it, that she seriously needed to get into acting because the world was missing out, and how you knew an acting coach you could contact to help her with tips or run lines.

It just hit Wanda. 

It hit her why she hesitated about finalizing a date to get married to Vision. Why she didn’t care that Vision ended up never showing up. Why she thought about you all the time lately. Why she wanted to throttle Natasha every time her friend got close to you.

She thought back to when she met you, the trust fund kid’s birthday bash, the night at Tony’s, the hot jealousy burning she felt at watching you get along with Natasha, how she cried about Pietro with you, how you comforted her with your own stories, the work you put in to make paprikash for her, the beach, Wasteland, your hands on her waist, the music, your lips, the pier, _everything_.

You were still babbling, but the moment you turned around, Wanda disregarded the script on the floor and crashed her lips into yours. She fisted her hands on your shoulder, sliding them up to cup your neck, pulling you closer as her eyes closed. 

As good as it felt, the next moment, Wanda snapped her eyes open and yanked away from you. You hadn’t even reacted, shocked that Wanda kissed you. 

“Oh, god,” Wanda whispered. She looked at you, lips trembling. “I–I’m _so_ sorry, I–”

You didn’t even give her a chance to finish as you rushed forward, cupping her jaw as you collided your lips into Wanda’s again. She let out a moan, feeling your lips against her. You pushed her back until her back hits the table stand and you used your hands to lift her up onto the table. She was yanking at your leather jacket to get it off, and you released her for a quick second, to let the jacket fall down your arms. 

Your lips met hers over and over again messily as she wrapped her arms around your neck to keep you close. Her legs were spread open and wrapped around your torso tightly as your hands slid from her bottom up her back, finding the zipper of her dress to pull it down all the way. Wanda encourages you with her hand fisting your hair tightly, kissing you more aggressively, slipping her tongue into your mouth. 

You groaned, grabbing her roughly off of the table and turned around to walk towards the bed, throwing her against the mattress roughly. Her dress began to slip off her, exposing her chest covered by her strapless lacy white bra that had you biting your lip. 

Wanda’s hair splayed messily against the sheets, and her lips looked plump from kissing you so hard. She was flushed and breathing heavily as she stared at you with dilated pupils.

The sight made you moan softly, climbing atop of her as she readily let you between her legs. You kissed her lips again, not as fervent as you first did, slower but as hard as the first. Your hand traced down her arm until you reached her hand and brought it next to her head and laced your fingers together. Your lips left hers, pressing kisses against her jawline before moving downwards against her neck. 

Wanda let out a soft moan, her torso lifting up to press against you. You sucked against the skin, releasing just before you could make a mark. You moved your lips more down and nibbled against her collarbone. She let out a high pitched whine that made you smile against her skin. 

You wanted _more._

You needed _more._

 _She_ wanted more. 

You were getting lost in her, wanting to stir more noises out of her.

You shifted your body, your navel ground against Wanda’s core firmly through her dress.

“ _Oh_ ,” Wanda moaned needily as she lifted her hips, desperate to get more friction. Her hand tightened against yours, and you went back up to kiss her lips again. 

Wanda moved her lips against yours, sucking on your bottom lip, making you groan into her mouth as she released it and licked against it slowly. 

You were going to devour her. You really were. 

She was looking at you through half-lidded eyes that begged you to just _fuck_ her.

Just as you were going to smash your lips against her, your phone began to ring loudly in your back pocket.

The noise woke you. You blinked as Wanda let out a quiet groan of disappointment, throwing her head back on the mattress.

You pull out your phone to see it’s Natasha calling. 

You looked at Wanda, flushed, chest heaving as she was hot and heavy. 

You needed to make your exit now. 

“Shit,” you swore, catching her attention. You picked up the phone.

“Hey, Natasha,” You said, trying to gain your breathing again. “No, yeah, I’m on my way. Yeah, see you.”

You hung up, looking at Wanda with an overwhelmed expression. 

“I–” You tried to say, but not sure what to really say.

“Fuck, Wanda,” You said, “What the hell are we doing?”

You get off of her, running your fingers through your hair. You’re about to turn around, but Wanda sits up and grabs your arm to force you to turn back to her. 

“No, you can’t go to _her_. Not after–not after you’re about to be with _me_.” Wanda says, her eyes telling you to stay. Her dress was sliding off of her body as she sat up and you had to rip your eyes away from looking at her chest and taut stomach. Her jaw was set in a line, and you’re tempted to stay.

But you know you shouldn’t. 

“Wanda,” you tell her. “We _can’t_.”

“You can’t lie to me and say you don’t want me too. You feel it, whatever it is between us. You can’t erase that.” Wanda challenges you.

You sigh, not denying it. You pull your arm away, forcing Wanda to let go.

“That doesn’t change that you have Vision and I have Natasha waiting for me. So whatever it is, is it enough to make you leave him?”

Wanda is silent. 

It confirms what you thought. 

“Exactly,” you say. “We’re friends, Wanda. That _has_ to be enough.”

Not letting her say anything else, you turn around, grabbing your jacket off the floor and leave her in the hotel room alone.

In the elevator, you put back on your leather jacket and wipe the lipgloss that smudged on you from Wanda.

You smirk as your thumb swipes your bottom lip. 

Goddamn, Wanda was quite the dangerous one if you let her be. She lured you in to the point you couldn’t even think.

She was absolutely sinful.

The elevator dinged and you pushed off the railing walking out the hotel doors to your car. You briefly looked up to the floor she would be on.

Patience, you reminded yourself. You’re almost there. You could see she was starting to unravel for you. 

The game was far from over, and Wanda was quite the active participant now.


	7. Part VII

You were lying in bed while Natasha slept. It was still the early hours of the morning, and you would give it another hour or two before Natasha would wake up to start her day.

When you had come into her home after leaving Wanda’s hotel, you were still so riled up that you started kissing Natasha as soon as she opened the door. The enthused woman immediately returned your attention, leading you to her bedroom and letting you fall on top of her. 

You were kissing her roughly, moving your body against hers as she ran her fingers through your hair. 

It felt good. 

You wanted to continue. But you couldn’t. 

The image of Wanda writhing underneath you stopped you from taking it over the line with Natasha.

And that had _never_ happened to you with any other girl. You knew right then it could never be anyone but Wanda.

You stopped kissing Natasha, letting out a quiet sigh, and smiling at the redhead beneath you.

“Sorry, I just…don’t want our first time being like this…I’m not quite ready.” You told Natasha, who graciously just rubbed your cheek and kissing you softly with an understanding smile. 

You spent the entire night chatting softly together as she lay partially on your shoulder and your arm around her. She fell asleep at some point, but your mind was too wired to do the same. 

When it felt appropriate, you got up as quietly as you could to avoid waking Natasha.

You think she would appreciate some breakfast.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

Wanda had spent the night in the hotel room, lying on her back in the same state you had left her in. 

She mussed her hair messily and sighed.

She was obsessing. 

Had you already reached Natasha’s? Were you kissing her with those same lips you had just kissed her with? Touching Natasha with those hands that were just on her?

Were you worshipping Natasha’s body when you should’ve been worshipping _hers_?

The temptation to call your phone or even show up at Natasha’s had crossed Wanda’s mind, but she resisted it. 

Wanda was sure you wanted her, it was obvious. She was the right choice for you. No one would fit you better than her. 

But if you insisted on being friends, then she would have to step up her game.

Wanda slept for a few hours before the day started. She had the hotel set her up with a driver to send her home with all her gifts. When she got home, Vision had returned. He looked incredibly hungover, and the sight sent Wanda fuming.

“Wanda–” Vision started, but she cut him off.

“Are you fucking serious?” Wanda seethes at him, and the volume made him wince and put his palm to his eye.

“Not so loud,” Vision pleads. A baffled look enters on Wanda’s face.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Wanda says, sarcasm dripping in her voice. “Is me being pissed that you went missing during my birthday, worrying me, but only for me to find out that you were just blackout wasted giving you a headache?”

Vision sighs, grabbing a glass of water and rummaging through the cabinets for Advil.

“Wanda, love, I am so sorry,” Vision said as he took two pills. “I don’t know what happened. I was signing my contract, and we just had a couple drinks to celebrate, and it just got out of control so fast.”

Wanda scoffs, crossing her arms. “Do you know how embarrassing it was for me for you to go missing without saying anything? _You_ were the one who made such a big deal about performing for me!”

She uncrossed her arms, bring her hand up to grasp her temples with her middle finger and thumb. 

“I am happy for you, Vision,” Wanda said tiredly. “I really am that you’ve finally got signed on. But you promised me you were going to be there. Do I mean so little to you that you would go and get that drunk elsewhere on my birthday?”

Vision went over and knelt in front of her, grabbing her hands in his.

“ _No_ , love, not at all. I’m sorry, I messed up. Let me still sing you the song I wrote,” Vision pleaded Wanda, putting her hands to his mouth. She pulled away, a frown on her face.

“I am not in the mood to listen to your song, Vis. I’m really upset.”

“Wanda, please. It’s just a birthday. I promise to make it up to you.”

Wanda’s eyes widened in disbelief. 

“Just a birthday? Vision, it was _my_ birthday. It was my birthday, with all of our friends and people I work with. It was near humiliation for me. I was so lucky that I still got a performance dedicated to me.”

Vision frowned, “Who?” He demanded.

“Lady Phantom,” Wanda answered with a sniff of her nose. 

Vision got up and groaned. 

“Seriously?” He asked, “her?”

Wanda looked offended. “What’s the supposed to mean?”

“Wanda, there’s something off about her. Since she showed up, everything has been going weird between us.”

Wanda scoffed, she couldn’t even believe what Vision was saying. 

“Don’t blame your lack of attention to me on her! You put yourself in this situation. I have supported you for years, Vis. Always at your side with you pursuing music, even when no one was listening. I put my career aspirations aside to make sure you were comfortable. But the second you get recognized by some hot shots, I’m on the back burner?” Wanda narrowed her eyes at Vision as she spoke. 

“I want a break, Vision,” Wanda said, frowning deeply.

“Wanda, no,” Vision pleaded, coming in to hug her, but she moved out of the way.

“Vision, I’m serious,” she said. She took off her engagement ring, putting it in his hand. “I need time to think, and we need time apart.”

Vision took the room, staring at it sadly before looking at Wanda again. He wanted to say something but with the look on her face, he knew she was serious. And when Wanda was serious, there was nothing that could change her mind.

He sighed, putting the ring into this pocket, grabbing his jacket and walked out the door. 

When Vision was gone, Wanda sighed. She took a seat and rubbed her temples to relieve the oncoming headache. 

She wanted to call you, but the fear of you not picking up, or worse, Natasha picking up your phone for you made her not. 

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

Natasha had been the one to tell you about a gala Tony was hosting for the 75th anniversary of Stark Industries. 

You hadn’t seen or spoken to Wanda in a couple weeks, but you heard once again from Natasha that the two of them had gone on a break. 

The news made you smirk internally.

So, you got dressed up in your chic custom made tuxedo, your slightly sheer white dress shirt unbuttoned enough to show your collarbone and the dip to your chest. You had an untied bowtie wrapped around the collar of your shirt, sitting perfectly on either side of your chest. You were rolling up the sleeves of your jacket and then used your fingers to delicately moved your curled hair over to one side. 

Natasha came in with her tight red dress that fit her curves perfectly and showed off her back. 

“You look unbelievably sexy,” She commented at the door, leaning against it with her arms crossed.

You looked at her through the mirror and smirked before turning around to walk towards her. She stood up straight, grabbing the lapels of your jacket and smoothing them out.

“Not looking shabby yourself, Miss Romanoff,” you said in return, moving in to kiss her lightly, moving your hand to caress her bare back.

“Mmm,” Natasha hummed. “Keep that up, and I may end up keeping you here.”

You chuckled against her lips and pulled back.

“I’m sure Tony will be displeased with me if I keep his favorite publicist from his party.”

“Favorite?” Natasha mused. “I’m his only publicist.”

“Not if we don’t get a move on now to the party,” you say, ushering her along to get out to the car waiting. 

She laughs huskily.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

You two were the last to arrive at the party. They were all standing in a circle, and your eyes caught Wanda’s briefly. She was beautiful in her silver dress that ended just before her knees. It was a long sleeve, but the arms and her collarbones to her chest were all transparent lace designs. 

She was staring at you, unashamed with her hungry look that no one noticed.

Clint had made a joke wondering what took the two of you so long while Bruce stared at the two of with a clenched jaw and drink in his hand. Vision was here as well, though standing a couple persons away from Wanda rather than next to her. 

You kept your hand deliberately on Natasha’s waist, pulling her closer to you as you all talked in a group. You could feel Wanda’s eyes on you, and you soaked it up. Leaning over, you brushed your lips against Natasha’s ear, asking her if she wanted anything to drink. She nodded, and you pressed a light kiss to her neck, your eyes meeting Wanda’s for a split second before walking off. 

You were at the bar, ordering a drink for yourself and then Natasha’s drink when you felt someone stand next to you. You looked over to see Wanda with a blazing fury in her eyes.

“I know what you’re doing,” she says, and you’re taking a sip of your drink before turning to her.

“And what’s that?” You asked her with a cock of your brow. 

“You’re trying to get a reaction out of me,” Wanda said, leaning against the counter, purposely moving her hair over her shoulder to draw your attention to her defined collarbone.

You licked your lips subtly, but Wanda still caught it and smirked. You immediately drew your attention back up to her eyes.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” You tell Wanda. “I’m just here to enjoy my night with Natasha.”

With that, you walk off, two drinks in hand as you return to the redhead’s side. She smiles at you, taking her drink and gives you bedroom eyes. The two of you chat some more before you pull her onto the dance floor with you. Your hand is dangerously low on her back while she’s pressed up against you with that smile that made every man turn into a stuttering mess. 

As you were leading the dance, you could see Vision tentatively ask Wanda for a dance. She looked at you on the floor, catching your eye once more. She smirked at you before agreeing to Vision, who then led her onto the floor. Wanda stared at you the entire time as she pressed herself closer to Vision and allowed him to guide her.

Your jaw clenched slightly as the way Vision was pushing his luck, caressing Wanda’s back, sliding further down intimately.

And Wanda not stopping it. 

You turned your attention back to Natasha, smiling seductively at the woman in your arms as you spun her out before pulling her back in and dipping her slightly in your arms. 

When you pulled her back up, you sighed a little.

“What’s the matter?” Natasha asked as you continued the dance. 

You look into her eyes and just smile a little sheepishly. “Nothing. You’re just…so incredibly attractive. I just wish I could kiss you right now.”

The redhead usually was not one for public displays of affections, but her lips quirked up as she eyed you. 

“What’s stopping you?”

You slowed your dancing, your eyes fluttered as they dropped to her lips. 

“I might just _really_ kiss you, Romanoff.”

Natasha tilted her head up, her own eyes moving to your lips.

“Don’t tease,” she whispers. Your dancing comes to a full stop as the song ends, but you lift your hands to cup her jaw, moving in to kiss her deeply and slowly. Your eyes open to look past her to see Wanda standing with Vision, jaw clenched at you.

Soon enough, you pull away and peck Natasha once more softly on her lips.

“Thank you for the dance,” you tell her, and she grins at you. You take a step back and bow slightly with the end of the dance. 

“ _Find me later,_ ” she mouths at you before walking off to find Tony to talk to some of the guests. 

The party is starting to get a little full, so you walk out into the hallway to get some air. 

As soon as you step out, though, someone grabbed you by the arm. 

You looked over to see the social influencer next to you, pulling you further away from the ballroom. 

Wanda dragged you to the washroom, pushing you up against the wall and trapping you between her arms. 

“You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?“ She asked eyebrows pinched in irritation. 

"Doing what?” You asked innocently. Wanda frowned even more deeply hearing your response. 

"Don’t play dumb with me. You’re being all over Natasha on purpose. Don’t you think you’re being a little cruel to me?“ Wanda asked, closing the distance between your bodies.

You raised your brow at her. "Only as cruel as you being all over Vision in front of me. You didn’t think I would notice?” 

Wanda only pressed her body right against you perfectly, her thigh between your legs and pressed against you intimately. 

Your breath hitched, and Wanda smirked as she lowered her head to your neck and sucked at the skin there, being careful to not leave a mark. 

Your hands clenched together in a fist as your eyes shut close. Wanda peppered kisses all the up your neck to your jawline before lightly swiping at your lips. There was a slight pause as Wanda watched you with half-lidded eyes before smashing her lips against yours. 

She kissed you wildly, her hands wrapped up in your hair and thigh pressing against you more firmly. 

You moaned into her mouth, and she pulled back slightly. Wanda’s face was still insanely close to you as you both shared the same air. 

“Fine, keep your hands all over Natasha. Just remember that only I can make you feel this hot. You can do whatever you want, but I know it’s _me_ you want underneath you, writhing as you fuck _me_.” Wanda hissed, her mouth so close that the words vibrated off your lips. 

Suddenly, your body felt cold as she pulled away. You opened your eyes to see Wanda standing there looking smug as she licked her lips, and walked out of the washroom, leaving you alone.

You relaxed against the wall, leaning your head back as you let out a big sigh, smiling to yourself.

This.

This was how you wanted someone to react in a situation like this. 

You didn’t want them to cry or beg for your attention.

You wanted them to demand it.

And _oh_ , Wanda certainly did a great job of claiming it.

You stayed in the washroom for a couple more minutes before returning back into the ballroom. You spotted Wanda at the bar, talking casually with Clint and Sam. She noticed you as well, only looking at you in her peripheral before returning her attention to Clint and Sam. 

The next thing you noticed was Natasha and Bruce talking heatedly in the corner. Judging from the situation, you could tell Natasha was getting visibly angry with whatever Bruce was saying to her. 

Walking over, you came up to the two of them with a smile, effectively stopping the conversation as you put your hand on Natasha’s back.

“Everything alright?” You asked, more towards Natasha as you eyed Bruce.

He was certainly reaching his limit faster than you had expected. You couldn’t blame him, though. Perhaps he had caught you passionately kissing the redhead on the dance floor.

“Everything is fine,” Natasha said, tone a little clipped. She grabbed your hand, smiling curtly at Bruce.

“If that’s all, we’ll be off now.” Natasha pulled you away from the scientist, and you just followed her.

She still looked a little upset with her eyes focused, brows tightened, and nostrils slightly flared. Once you felt far away enough, you stopped, tugging Natasha to a stop as well.

She turned around to you and softened at your expression.

“Are you okay?” You genuinely asked. Natasha sighed, dropping your hand, but you stepped closer in response.

“Yeah, just…it’s really complicated with him as I told you,” she replied, closing her eyes for a brief second as she ran her fingers through her hair. 

You could feel it. Bruce was just a step away from snapping and doing whatever he could to get Natasha back. 

Whatever you had with Natasha was ending. 

The only question was if you were going to let her go before that happened. 

You put your hand on Natasha’s arm, rubbing it up and down to comfort her.

She opened her eyes, staring at you with a small smile.

“Do you still love him?” You asked her softly. 

The question made the redhead freeze momentarily, but it was the answer you needed, and Natasha knew.

“But I really like you too,” she softly told you. You returned her soft smile with your own.

“But it’s not really over between the two of you, is it?” You ask her, dropping your hand and putting the other into your pant pocket.

Natasha pursed her lips, eyes watering just ever so slightly. “I don’t want things over between us. You’re amazing, and we’re good together. We make sense.”

“Sometimes the love you want doesn’t always make sense,” you tell her, and it fits perfectly in both your guys’ situations.

Natasha just gives you a sad lopsided smile as she goes in to embrace you tightly.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbles against your shoulder. You return the hug equally as tight, rubbing her back up and down.

“Don’t be. Not like we made it official or anything,” you joke and she chuckles. “We’re still friends, Nat. I want you to be happy, so go get ‘em, tiger.”

Natasha pulls back, kissing you one last time on the cheek and smiles before leaving you.

You sigh, a little relieved that you were able to end things on good terms with the redhead, but now you were stuck in a different predicament.

Wanda would eventually find out that you and Natasha ended. 

And while she was on a break with Vision, a break was only a break until it officially ended or they get back together.

You needed to find a new distraction and quick. 

The game was still on, and Wanda was quickly getting the upper hand.

And you never lose a game.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷ 

Wanda was eyeing you like prey the moment you had entered back into the room. Clint and Sam were talking to her about something, but she had tuned it out a while ago, just nodding at the appropriate places.

She watched as you walked over to Natasha and Bruce and huffed a little.

Seriously? After that hot moment in the washroom, you still walked to Natasha first?

She watched from her peripheral the entire time as Natasha was dragging you away before the two of you chatted. Then she was hugging you, and you were returning the hug so intimately. 

The hot burning jealously pooling in her gut made her grip her glass a little tighter.

“So, how are things between you and Vision?” Clint asked, bringing Wanda’s attention back. 

“Huh? Oh, I guess it’s okay,” Wanda answered. Honestly, she hadn’t really been talking to him since the day she told them they needed a break. From what others have told her, he was currently staying with Tony. 

“Yeah, I saw the two of you dancing earlier,” Sam commented. 

Wanda nodded, relaxing her grip on her cup as she took a sip.

“Yeah,” she said for lack of anything else to say. 

“Any thoughts on getting back together?” Clint asked, neither hinting that he wanted them to or not. 

Wanda glanced over at Vision, who was already staring at her. She turned her attention back to Clint.

“To be honest…no,” Wanda answered honestly with a sigh. “Maybe it seems like I’m overreacting over him not showing up for my birthday, but it’s more than that. I guess things have been changing for a while, I just kept holding on thinking that I could make it work.”

Clint gave her a sympathetic look while Sam put his hand on her shoulder, comfortingly.

“We’ll support you no matter what, Wanda. Just, maybe let Vision know that as soon as possible, so he’s not holding out hope longer than he needs to. It’ll get messy if that happens.” Clint advised her, and Sam nodded in agreement. 

Wanda gave them both a half-hearted smile and nodded as she hugged both of them. They left her alone after a moment, and Wanda sighed as she left the premises again, this time to stand outside.

It was a little brisk, and she regretted not bringing a jacket as she wrapped her arms around herself. 

Suddenly, a jacket was being wrapped around her shoulders. Her heart flared up as she turned, hoping to see you, but it was only Vision standing there. 

“Hey,” he greeted her softly.

“Hey,” she returned quietly. 

The two of them stood there silently next to each other for a couple minutes. 

“I’ve had a lot of think about over the last few weeks,” Vision said, breaking the silence.

The two of them turn to face each other, and Vision had his hands in his pockets.

“I messed up. Real bad, and I know that. I’ve taken you for granted over the years we’ve been together. You were right. I think a part of me has always wanted to be in the same league as you, and when I wasn’t, the insecurity made me drag you back.” Vision confessed, regret in his eyes.

“But, I want to change that. I have a chance to change all that,” he started and pulled out Wanda’s ring from his pocket. “I will be a better man, the man you deserve. Someone who supports you in your career aspirations too. I have to leave to New York to work on my debut. If that goes well, I will go on tours.”

He grabs Wanda’s hand, pushing the ring towards her. “I want you to be there with me. I want to do this together and reach new heights together. Whatever you want there, I will happily give you.”

Vision finishes his speech, holding out the ring and waiting for Wanda’s response.

To be honest, this is the most romantic thing Vision has ever said to her. Months back, this would’ve made her heart flutter, and she would’ve been crying as she said yes.

But now?

Now all she could think of was you.

Your eyes, your smile, the way you looked at her, the way you put her in the center of your universe to make sure she got what she wanted.

The hot explosion she felt when you guys kissed, and the hot liquid fire she felt pool in her belly when your hands were intimately on her. 

She wanted you.

And Wanda would be the only person to have you. 

She pulled her hand gently away from Vision, giving him a sad smile. 

“This break has given me a lot to think about as well,” she told him. “It made me realize that things have been different between us for a while, even if I may not have shown that to you. They say distance makes the heart grow fonder, but my heart is no longer in it.”

Wanda watched as Vision’s expression turned to heartbreak, and she put her hand on his cheek. He pressed his face further into her hand, his own hand holding it there as his other lowered the ring.

“I am so happy for you, Vision, to get the recognition you have always wanted. You’re a great man, but you’re just no longer the man for me. You’re going to reach new heights, even without me.”

Vision couldn’t say anything, a large lump stuck in his throat and a burning in the back of his eyes as he looked at the love of his life. 

He swallowed the lump painfully, looking at her once more.

“I just have to know one thing,” he said, voice a little raw. 

It was all he could think about. He had noticed some Wanda looking at you occasionally tonight. Tony had filled in him what happened at the party, and it didn’t sit well with him. 

“Are you in love with her?” He asked quietly. 

Wanda was silent as if to contemplate her answer. She looked at Vision, a resigned expression on her face. 

“It has nothing to do about why we’re ending,” she finally says. It’s enough for Vision, and he nods, shutting his eyes painfully.

Wanda tippytoes up and kisses Vision at the corner of his mouth before coming back down. She drags her hand out of his while he slowly hangs on before her hand slips from his grasp completely. 

Wanda walks away, simultaneously feeling sad but also relieved. She wanted to go back in to find you.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷ 

You, on the other hand, had been around the corner, listening into the conversation of what Vision and Wanda were saying. You had noticed she was missing and had gone out to offer her your jacket knowing she didn’t bring one.

You hadn’t expected that Vision had been already out there. Your hands clenched your bicep a little tighter as your arms were crossed, and you listened to Vision romantically confess that he wanted Wanda back. 

But Wanda, to your astonishment, rejected him. You had expected her to play it out a little longer to wind you up a little more. God knows the burning rage of jealousy you felt today watching her all over him while dancing revealed to Wanda that she could also play you like a fiddle. 

But this was her edge.

And it was beautiful to you. The way she obsessed over you and was unraveling was a work of art. 

Perhaps the game was ending sooner than you thought. 

It was now a matter of who was closing in on who. 

You licked your lips, still tasting the remanents of Wanda from earlier. 

Getting up from leaning against the wall, you decided that you were heading home for tonight.

Otherwise, you’d find yourself the prey caught in Wanda’s trap. 

Not that you would mind, you thought with a smirk. 

But you would be the hunter before you would be the prey. 


	8. Part VIII

It spread like wildfire.

The news that Wanda and Vision had officially broken up, and that he got signed to a label.

Wanda had heard pretty quickly that you and Natasha had also ended as well through Clint. 

You had expected that you and Wanda would get together pretty quickly. After all, there were no more obstacles preventing the two of you from getting together. 

Yet, to your pleasant surprise, Wanda slowed back on being aggressive with getting you. She was playing coy, enticing you to chase her.

And you loved a good chase.

You were meeting up with Wanda for lunch today. It would be a casual setting, you weren’t taking her anywhere fancy. After lunch, you were going to be taking a walk along the park before you needed to head back to work. 

“Hey, you.”

A voice took you out of your thoughts as you turned to see Wanda, who had entered the restaurant and took a seat across from you. 

“Hey,” you greeted her softly with a smile. 

The two of you hadn’t been able to see each other every day with you being busy with your collaborations, and Wanda seeing an acting coach to help her with the audition you set up for her.

She was constantly buzzing around with excitement about the audition, along with being incredibly nervous. 

You told her multiple times you had full confidence she would get the role. She would always flitter to your side as if cuddling into you was giving her the confidence and reassurance she needed. 

“Sorry, I hope you didn’t wait long. I got caught up in a phone call for my next project.”

You waved your hand to shake it off. 

“No, I just got here myself from being holed up in the studio. What’s your next project?”

Wanda was looking through the menu, contemplating what she was going to get as she answered you.

“I got invited to shoot a promo video for that upcoming fundraiser that’s happening on the beach. It’s me and a bunch of other social influencers that are going to be shooting it. They want to attract young rich people to the fundraisers and celebrities if possible.” Wanda seemed to decide what she wanted to eat and called the waitress over. 

“Oh? That’s quite interesting,” you comment as the both of you order. “When will you be shooting?”

“I’ll be shooting tomorrow. It’ll be the entire today, they were kind of poor on time management. The fundraiser is happening at the end of the month.”

“Jesus, is that even enough time for enough people to see the promo video?” You ask, leaning back and running your hand through the front of your hair. You look over to see Wanda just staring at you and licking her lips. 

You send her a sly smirk, and she coughs lightly at so openly gazing at you before drinking her water. 

Wanda shrugs, “They’re going to be staying up all night to edit it and release it the next day, so hopefully. It’s just less than three weeks. I’ll have to go to the fundraiser too to show my support. I’ll be advertising it on my IG this week.”

Soon enough, the waitress comes over with your food, and the two of you eat, making smaller talk in between before you pay the bill and walk out together.

The two of you are walking through the park, enjoying the nice weather and scenery.

You walk pretty closely together, your shoulders lightly brushing with every step. It was when Wanda decided to brush her pinky against yours that you smiled before fully grasping her hands, lacing your fingers together.

That was happening a lot more. There was more skinship between the two of you. It was like the two of you magnetized towards each other. There always had to be something. 

Wanda looks away, smiling as she bites her lip.

You two don’t say anything, just walking and swinging your hands lightly. 

“So,” Wanda says, her voice husky. “How’s work for you?”

You lull your head from side to side. “It’s been pretty good. Been wrapped up in the studio a couple days. Will be there for a couple more. After that, I have to shoot the music video.”

“Wow, sounds like it’s going to be pretty busy for you,” Wanda commented. You could hear the slight twinge of disappointment in her voice. You tried not to openly smile at that, but it was kind of difficult.

God, you were like a lovesick puppy. 

“Yeah,” you replied to Wanda. “It’ll be about two to three weeks before I finish, so actually right before the fundraiser. On top of that, I’m going to need to start looking at some places to stay.”

Wanda stopped walking, tugging you to a stop as well. You turn around to see Wanda’s confused face.

“Why are you looking at places?”

You rub the back of your neck, giving Wanda a shy smile. “Well, I did tell you that if I enjoyed it here enough, I would consider moving.”

Wanda’s giving you a smile as she’s pulling you a little closer.

“Anything in particular you enjoying?” She asks coyly and you grin, pulling her closer until you could wrap your arms around her waist.

“I could say a few things are keeping me around,” you say, grinning as the two of you are leaning closer.

You hadn’t kissed her since Tony’s party where she cornered you in the bathroom. 

Wanda is grinning as she’s leaning in, eager to taste your lips again. Just as your lips were about to touch, your phone rang in your back pocket. 

Wanda huffs in disappointment while you just grin, pulling back to pick up your phone.

Wanda watches you idly as you chat on the phone, biting her bottom lip gently as she takes in your look.

God, you looked so sexy today, wearing your tight fitted jeans, loose white v-neck shirt, and a leather jacket. When you ran your fingers through your hair earlier in the restaurant, she could see your double pierced lobe and a helix earring on your cartilage.

Wanda really just wanted to take you to bed.

She was having phantom flashes of your hands on her from the night at the hotel. 

You put your phone away, turning to Wanda with an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I need to actually get back to the studio right now. Let me drop you off?”

Wanda nods understandingly, and the two of you walk back to your car.

Smiling at you when you open the passenger door for her, she slips in, eyeing you as you walk over to the driver’s side.

She wanted you.

If there was one thing Wanda could always say about herself: she _always_ got what she wanted.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

“Let’s take a break everyone, great work! At this rate, we’ll definitely finish recording today. How about a two-hour break? Go get something to eat, relax a little, and come back fresh to finish this off?”

Everyone in the studio cheers and claps at what you said, filtering out of the room. 

You’re also packing up to head out as well. You needed to grab a couple things if you wanted to surprise Wanda in time. 

“Whoa there,” Ryan, the engineer you’ve worked with for many of your tracks, called out to you. “Where’s the fire? This is new. You never leave the studio, even when you let everyone else go for a break.”

You laugh softly, not arguing against that.

“Well, I guess there’s a first for everything,” you reply to him, trying to find your keys.

“Oh man,” Ryan groans jokingly. “There’s only one thing that can change work habits. A girl.”

You find your keys and get ready to walk out the door. You turn your head back to him smirking.

“Oh no, not just any girl,” you tell Ryan. “It’s _the_ girl.”

You hear Ryan chuckle as you close the door to the studio and walk out to your car. 

Wanda had texted you this morning that the shooting was happening at the beach where the fundraiser will be. She seemed like she was going to be busy most of the day, shooting the promotional video and was disappointed you wouldn’t be able to see each other for a while.

You stopped by a bagel place to pick up your order before heading over.

You could see the filming happening in the distance and smiled at seeing Wanda with other girls you didn’t recognize huddled side by side as they laughed and splashed water in front of the camera. 

Walking closer to the set, the security looking at you before letting you in. The hosts of fundraiser hired a director for the promotional video, they were trying to shoot multiple promo videos and had no experience in doing that. The director they hired was a close friend of theirs, also attending the fundraiser and wishing for its success.

And, it was someone you knew. You had worked with her in the past for your older music videos. You called her up to ask if it was okay to stop by the filming site for Wanda. 

She said it was totally fine at the time you were coming, it would be around lunchtime anyways. 

“Ashley,” you called over softly to alert her of your presence as you put down the bags of food onto the back table. 

“Oh, you’re here! Cut! Everyone take a break.” 

You looked over to see the director as she waved at you. Her voice had brought the attention of the crew around. Wanda looked over, and her jaw dropped slightly to see you. 

She immediately ran over to you, jumping into your arms. You caught her in your arms, spinning her around once before you let her down.

“What are you doing here!” Wanda exclaims, hugging you again. “I thought you were going to be busy in the studios for a while.”

You laugh as you return her embrace. “Very busy, yes, but couldn’t resist escaping for a while to see you. Especially when you told me this morning you were just dying for a bagel.”

Wanda looks behind you and sees a table full of bagels that the staff was helping put out. She was about to say something when the director cut in.

“How thoughtful for you to bring some for the rest of us as well,” Ashley chimed, grabbing one of the bagels, and taking a huge bite. The other influencers and crews also helped themselves while Wanda just smiled at you.

“Well,” you say, not taking your eyes off of her. “I can’t look like I’m playing favorites here.”

Ashley just snorts. “Right, right. Must’ve been my imagination when you called me the other day bribing me with food for my crew if I let you on the set to see Miss Wanda Maxmimoff here.”

Everyone on the set laughs, including Wanda as you just smile sheepishly.

“Whoops, I’ve been caught,” you say, not even the slightest embarrassed that you’ve been exposed. 

“Oh my gosh!” One of the influencers exclaims, turning your attention to her. “I totally remember seeing you at Wanda’s birthday party. You’re Lady Phantom!”

The other influencers who were at Wanda’s party look at you and start mouthing off in agreement. 

You just smile and nod, while Wanda’s hanging on your arm.

“Oh my god, I am so freaking jealous that Wanda got you to play for her at the party. That was so amazing! Now you’re here to visit her on set and bring food to everyone!” The same girl that pointed you out says. “Are you two dating?”

She was asking so excitedly that you thought it was a little weird.

Both of you shake your head, feeling a little shy at such a direct question.

“No,” you say, coughing slightly into your fist. “Just here to support and visit a really good friend.” 

Wanda shifts the conversation quickly, introducing you to all the other influencers who were in the promo videos.

Honestly, it was too many names, and you didn’t really care about any of them except Wanda, so the names really just flew over your head.

When you and Wanda got a chance to talk more privately, she went into a little more detail about the shoot and who was filming. The only name that was as big as Wanda’s was a girl who was standing off to the side, eyeing you the entire time.

Vanessa Goldaire, you remember Wanda telling you.

Wanda didn’t directly say it, but you could sense that there was tension between the two. Definitely some competition there, one always trying to outdo the other. You pretended to not notice it, though. 

You had made eye contact with Vanessa a couple times, and Wanda noticed it because you had to look past her to make eye contact with the other girl.

It made her bristle somewhat, but she didn’t say anything.

Since you didn’t have to return to the studio for a while, you opted to stay and watch them shoot on set.

The switch went on for Wanda going back to work, but she was subtly eyeing you, grabbing your attention.

She dropped her towel to reveal her bikini suit, swaying her hips as she went into position.

You found yourself holding your breath as you watched her. 

She was seducing you with no one even realizing it. 

Wanda definitely wanted your eyes on her and her only.

You bit your lip.

God, she was perfect.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

The rest of the week, you couldn’t escape work. With the recording finished, you moved immediately into filming the music video. The day after you had finished visiting Wanda, you had Charles hire a crew for filming and sent you your usual assistant, Jane. 

You had Jane post out applications for people to be in the music video. You spent the day with the producer to look over all the applications you received. The only person you were looking to find left was who would be the main lady lead of the video. 

Your eyes were getting tired from looking at the portfolios, and you were about to just let the producer pick whoever he liked best when you came across one that made you smirk.

Vanessa Goldaire sent in her portfolio. 

Initially, you had thought about casting Wanda for the leading lady for your music video to help her get a little more work to add to her portfolio when she wanted to audition for other roles. 

In the end, you decided not to as the overall song and video didn’t match Wanda. 

If you were going to put Wanda in your work, you wanted to create something that was solely meant for her. Complimented her in every way, like she _was_ the song and story for the music video.

You believed that Wanda deserved that.

But Vanessa Goldaire?

Well, she would do, for both this music video and as your final play towards Wanda.

“I want her,” you pull her portfolio out, eyeing it briefly. It was similar to Wanda’s portfolio of work, but it was like whatever brands Wanda represented, Vanessa represented their biggest competitor. 

The producer looks and nods in agreement. You give the resume over to your assistant.

“Call her and arrange it,” you tell Jane who nods.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

The next week passes quickly as you’re busy shooting the music video. It got delayed slightly when the singer you worked with got sick. She was well enough to work on day three. 

You shot all the parts you could without the singer. With all craziness, you hardly had time to talk to Wanda. 

On set, you met Vanessa, who was very professional when working. The two of you ended up frequently talking due to working together. Granted, it was all about work. Vanessa had asked you a few personal questions like how you met Wanda, or how long you were in the city for, or if you were seeing anyone.

She seemed pleased with the answers you provided, and you knew immediately that she was into you.

Soon enough, the music video was wrapped up, just in time for you to be able to go with Wanda to the fundraising event. 

It was by no means an extreme fancy dress code since it was on the beach, but there was a level of unspoken standard that had to be met. 

You and Wanda decided to meet there as there were some last-minute things you had to tie up for work before heading over. 

The editing team would be finished in a couple days, so you just had spent some time watching the unedited clips and giving your directions and opinion. 

After everything seemed to be okay, you left off for the fundraiser.

It was set in the evening, the sun still out but would soon set. You had recognized a couple people through your industry and made small talk.

Excusing yourself eventually, you went back to trying to find Wanda and soon enough, you did. She was chatting with Ashley and a couple other of the influencers (the names still escape you).

You come up, placing your hand on the small of her back, surprising her as she turns around. She’s wearing a one-piece pastel pink jumpsuit that she looks absolutely stunning in.

“There you are!” She utters, pulling you into a tight hug as it’s been a while since the two of you have seen each other. You feel her subtly inhale your scent and you do the same, feeling it calm you as you’re finally with her. 

“Hey,” you say into her hair before the two of you let go, and you turn to greet everyone else. 

They’re making small talk before you see Vanessa walk by. She has her arm around a man’s arm as she smiles at you when she passes by.

You’re about to turn to ask Wanda if she knows who Vanessa is with when an influencer (Lily, you think) standing next to you already starts to gossip.

“Oh, great,” Lily says as Vanessa walks past them. “Vanessa brought Derek Cartwell with her.”

“Who’s that?” You asked, the name not ringing any bells to you.

“I guess you can say Derek is a newcomer to the group. He won the lottery about…six months ago? It was about two million he won, and he went right into business. He invested everything into his idea and just sold his venture for five million. He’s already onto his next idea and is apparently looking for investors this time in addition to putting his own money in.” Lily tells you as everyone’s eyeing Vanessa and Derek.

You’re overwhelmingly unimpressed. 

Really? His net-worth was only five million? Your last album made more than that. 

The fact that Vanessa would bring him as a way to get your attention was also unimpressive.

She could’ve picked someone a little better at least.

Soon enough, everyone was being ushered to the seating area for the main event of the fundraiser, the live auction. 

A lot of the guests who came here had donated items for the auction as sponsors. Since their target audience was young rich people, the items donated were some interesting things.

There were custom artworks, luxury vacation packages, high-end jewelry, wines, rare books, and so many other items.

You were content to sit with Wanda, enjoying the auction. Most of these items were out of Wanda’s price range, but it didn’t seem like anything particularly interested her so far, so you didn’t make any attempts to bid for anything.

Most of the items were being increased by increments of $1000 to $1500 increments. 

It was getting pretty upscale quickly, but nothing had surpassed $50,000.

Vanessa and Derek sat on the other section next to you and Wanda, also in the first row. You had your hand casually resting on the back of Wanda’s chair with your legs crossed. 

You could feel Vanessa eyeing you, and so could Wanda. You pretended to not notice or look over, and Wanda changed her seating position so that her knees would face you, and brush against your knees lightly.

The night went on with Derek bidding for things for Vanessa. The crowd was whispering praises to her, that she was so lucky to have someone get her all these things.

You could tell it was grating on Wanda.

It wasn’t until the last item, a pearl necklace, came into the auction that caught Vanessa’s attention.   
  


“This is a Mikimoto white south sea cultured pearl strand, with an 18k yellow gold piece. The starting price is $5500.” The auctioneer said, and immediately, someone from the crowd increased it by another $1500. You could see from your peripheral that Vanessa was whispering in Derek’s ear, probably that she wanted the necklace. 

The necklace was already at $10,000. 

“$30,000,” Derek said, holding up his bidding card. 

People were whispering again. Women who had attended were clamoring about how Vanessa was a lucky girl. 

You finally turned your head over to see Vanessa staring you, a smirk on her lips. 

You hear Wanda sigh, and you turn your attention to her.

“What’s wrong?” You ask, and Wanda just shakes her head.

“Nothing,” she says quietly to not draw attention to herself. “It’s just…Vanessa always does this at every event. She ends up making the event about her.”

You saw Wanda eyeing the necklace as well, but she didn’t seem to say anything about it. 

You licked your lips, a small smirk coming out. 

“$30,000 to the gentleman in the front. Anyone else?” The auctioneer called out.

Lily had told everyone that Derek was investing his money into his next venture while looking for investors as well. From what it sounded like, he hadn’t quite found anyone yet.

He had bid for many things tonight, winning most of them. If he weren’t careful, he would end up not having enough to invest into his next business venture. 

You held your bidding card.

“$35,” you called.

“$35,000. Anyone else?” The auctioneer called again.

“$40,000,” Derek held up his card again.

“$45,” You answer quickly, card raised again.

“$50,” Derek retorted.

“$55,” You answered. Wanda was looking eyes wide at you as she pulled at your sleeve. 

Derek looked at you, half-impressed but also half-annoyed that you were competing with him.

“$80,000,” Derek jumped the price, smirking at you.

At this point, Derek had met the necklace’s worth and then some. It would just be insane for you to bid any higher.

You smirked back at him.

He didn’t know insanity was your game.

“$100,000.”

There were whispers of shock around in the room. You knew that Derek couldn’t bid any higher.

He had reached his limit on how much he could bid before he would be putting his next business venture at risk. 

His jaw clenched slightly, but he put on a friendly smile before conceding to you.

“$100,000. Anyone else?” The auctioneer said himself, also in slight shock. “Going once, going twice, sold! To the generous lady in the front!”

There were thunderous claps around as the auction came to an end. You came up to collect the necklace and held it delicately in your fingers. You went up to Wanda, who was looking at you with wide eyes and mouth slightly opened.

“What are you…?” She asked, everyone’s eyes on the two of you.

You gently took one hand to move the back of her hair to the side before undoing the clasp of the necklace and delicately placing it on her.

Once it was on, you eyed her, really just gazing at her defined collarbone.

“There,” you said softly. “Thought your outfit was missing something.”

Wanda just chokes on a laughter as she flings herself into your arms. You return her laughter with your own as you return her embrace, squeezing her lightly.

Well, at least Wanda could say this event definitely didn’t end up just being about Vanessa.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

The fundraiser moves on to just late-night drinks and chatting. The host actually comes up to greet you, thanking you for your generous donation. 

“Oh, it’s quite alright. It’s a noble and worthy cause, plus Wanda now has her outfit complete, so we’re all winners here.”

The host just laughs, shaking your hand once more before moving to Wanda and shaking her hand as well.

“You are a very, very lucky girl,” he says, and she chuckles.

“Don’t I know it,” she tells him, eyeing you from the side with a smile.

He leaves the two of you together, and you turn to face each other.

“You’re unbelievable,” Wanda says, touching her necklace again. This was even more than the engagement ring Vision had gotten her. 

She was basking as the lady of the night. It felt good to finally stick it to Vanessa. Wanda could see that Vanessa had been eyeing you all night, and it was really starting to annoy her.

Wanda couldn’t help but look at Vanessa and smirk when they made eye contact. 

She was preening, really.

“Well, as I said, it’s a worthy and noble cause,” you have your lips turned into a crooked grin.

“The charity?”

“No. You,” you clarify, blinking slowly as Wanda tries to control her smile, biting her bottom lip. 

Wanda’s moving closer to you again, and you don’t think you could survive holding out any longer.

If Wanda dragged you home, you would be quite the happy and willing participant in her plans.

Your cellphone started ringing again. 

Wanda let out a quiet groan of disappointment while you blinked and pulled back.

You swore you could hear Wanda mutter under her breath, “The universe is plotting against me, I swear to God.”

You could only give her an apologetic look as you picked up your phone.

“Ah, shit,” you say as you hang up the phone. “I gotta go back to the studio. There’s some kind of problem with one of the clips. Are you going to be okay? Did you want me to drop you off or anything?”

Wanda just smiles at you with a sigh.

“No,” she says, looking around her. “Everyone is still here, so I should be too. I’ll get one of the other girls to drop me off.”

You nod, looking over to the other girls before looking back at Wanda. You purse your lips slightly before you lean in again, this time to cup Wanda’s jaw and neck as you kiss her cheek softly. 

“Don’t get in any trouble,” you tenderly say, smiling as she sighs happily and chuckles.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Wanda says teasingly. 

Waving once more to Wanda, you head out to your car.

You sigh, feeling sad that you have to part with her. 

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

You end up having the meet with the editing team a couple times the next couple of days. It’s the middle of the week when everything officially wraps up, and the video is posted. 

You celebrate as always by buying champagne for everyone at the bar a couple blocks from the studio. The crew and staff decide to stick around longer, ordering more drinks to celebrate their hard work. 

You have no plans to stay longer, though, wanting to see Wanda instead. You had planned to make a last play towards Wanda, but you found yourself just missing her more.

The game was good, but every good game needs an end.

You were thinking about grabbing some wine on the way home, take Wanda back to your place, set up a little blanket fort on your balcony, stargaze, and then place your lips everywhere on her body. 

Just as you were about to leave, Vanessa came up to you, smiling as she leaned against the bar counter, her top riding up to show her midriff a little.

“Hey, hotshot,” she greeted you, her voice sultry as she licked her bottom lip.

“Hey, Vanessa,” you greeted politely. “Great work.”

“Thank you for the opportunity,” Vanessa says, motioning the bartender over. “Let me at least get you a drink.”

You nod, not wanting to be rude while everyone was around, but you hope she’s not going to drag this out now.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

“Please hurry and take your picture, Lil, I’m starving,” Wanda whines as Lily had now taken her 8th photo of their dinner at the restaurant.

Lily shushes her and takes her photo.

“Not all of us have magic photo-taking skills like you where you can take 2-3 photos, and they’re all amazing.” Lily looks at the photo she just took, seemingly satisfied with this one, and putting her phone away.

Wanda just laughs, pulling her plate towards her as she digs in and moans.

“Oh god, this is good,” Wanda savours the flavour with her eyes closed and fingers delicately in front of her mouth. 

Lily nods in agreement, eating her own food. They try a bite of each other’s seemingly also happy with the other’s choice. They make small talk about work and some brands they’re going to be working with soon. But then Lily brings up the fundraiser.

“God,” Lily says, “that fundraiser was insane. I can’t believe your girlfriend dropped $100k on a necklace for you. Do you know how hopping mad Vanessa was after? Oh my god, Derek was so embarrassed.”

Wanda smiled, scooping more food onto her fork. “She’s not my girlfriend.”

“Right,” Lily snorted. “Next time we do a fundraiser together if you don’t drop $100k on an item for me, our friendship is over.”

Wanda just laughs, shaking her head a little as she looks down at her plate. 

“Seriously, girl,” Lily says, leaning her head over the table more. “You need to hurry and lock that shit down.”

Lily says it kind of jokingly, mostly because she knows that Vision and Wanda had recently split up from their engagement, but then she catches the look in Wanda’s eye.

“Oh my god, you bitch,” Lily exclaims, leaning back in her chair with a smile in disbelief. “You actually want to lock that shit down. With a ring and shit.”

Wanda is blushing, trying to contain her smile as she runs her fingers through her hair.

“Holy shit,” Lily says, “Why do you lesbians move so fast?”

Wanda just rolls her eyes, not bothering to correct Lily, but is surprised with herself with how fast she _did_ want to progress with you.

The idea of a ring on your finger, indicating to everyone that you were hers was unbelievably desired by Wanda.

But that was crazy.

“Well,” Lily says, wiping her mouth with a napkin. “You should probably hurry with that then, or at least hurry and get her to be your girlfriend.”

“Why?” Wanda says, wiping her mouth as well by patting it.

Lily looks at her with a brow raised, surprised she didn’t know. 

“Vanessa told me that she got the part to be in Lady Phantom’s new music video. It’s obvious that she’s yours, Wanda, but you know Vanessa is always trying to one-up you. They’re celebrating right now at the bar, and you know how she gets when she’s drinking with someone that she wants.”

The new is shocking to Wanda. You hadn’t mentioned anything about Vanessa being in your music video. She flashes back at every party she’s been at with Vanessa and how that minx would seduce her target and swore.

“Shit,” Wanda says, standing up. She rummages through her bag for her wallet, but Lily waves her off.

“It’s fine, I got this. You should probably go.”

Wanda gives her friend a grateful smile before running out the door and grabbing a cab. She realizes that she doesn’t know what bar you’re actually at and is about to call and ask you when her phone buzzes.

**Lily:** _They’re at the Blue Lagoon. Good luck, girlie. Get your girl!_

Wanda mentally thanks her friend again before giving the cab driver the location.

When they arrive, Wanda grabs cash from her wallet, giving the driver the money before getting out.

“Keep the change!” She yells before making her way into the bar.

When she gets in, she finds that it’s pretty busy. She sees you immediately standing at the bar with Vanessa, both drinking. Wanda watches as Vanessa casually tries to lean closer, bending her leg so that it would brush against your leg. Vanessa is biting her straw, giving you bedroom eyes before she’s licking the tip of her straw.

Wanda is making her way over, because if Vanessa thinks she can snatch you…she has another thing coming.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

You were watching Vanessa’s antics, really kind of suffering through it. Maybe if you hadn’t met Wanda or this was the early stages of the game, this would’ve been incredibly attractive to you.

But it wasn’t.

Because it wasn’t Wanda.

Her knee was brushing against yours, and you knew it was probably time to call it a night and make your escape.

Just as you were about to say something, you felt someone wrap their hands around your arm. 

Turning your head over, you and Vanessa were both surprised to see Wanda standing there, smiling.

“Wanda,” you say shocked. “What are you doing here?”

Wanda doesn’t answer you, only looking at you to wrap her hand around the back of your neck as she pulls you roughly into a hot searing kiss.

You moan immediately in response, feeling Wanda’s lips against yours as she’s kissing you fervently. Your hands immediately wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer to your body. 

She pulls back, her lips making a small popping sound as she does, smirking at you with bedroom eyes.

“Take me home,” she says, and you nod immediately. You don’t need to be told twice. 

Wanda looks over at Vanessa, who is frowning and gripping her drink tightly. She eyes Vanessa, cocking her eyebrow.

“Stay away from her,” Wanda tells Vanessa, pulling you closer to her. “She’s mine.”

Wanda grabs your hand and is pulling you out of the bar. You pass Ryan, and he’s giving you a shit-eating grin, but you don’t even do anything since you’re too happy.

God, that was fucking hot. 

Wanda was fucking hot. 

The two of you hop into a cab, and you’re giving your address as Wanda is sitting in the cab like she didn’t just barge into a bar and told Vanessa to fuck off basically.

She’s looking out the window while you’re trying to calm your libido, blinking rapidly.

The cab driver drops you off at your place, and you pay him while Wanda is looking around.

She hadn’t been to your temporary place before, or really this close to this part of her community.

The cab driver drives off, and you watch him for a second before turning and leading Wanda to the door.

Once the door is shut behind you, she’s immediately all over you again. Pulling at your clothes, stripping you of your jacket as she’s pressing her lips on yours over and over again. 

You lead her to the bedroom where she pushes you back onto the mattress before straddling you.

She was definitely not going to let you go this time, grabbing your phone from your back pocket, turning it off before flinging it onto the ground.

That blasted thing has gotten in her way too many times.

Wanda is just looking at you like she’s going to devour you, a prey that she’s finally caught.

You lick your lips.

But you’re oh so willing to be eaten, you think with a smirk on your lips.


	9. Part IX

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pure Smut

Lips moved against yours roughly, hands tangled in your hair as you lifted your hips up to feel more friction.

Wanda smirked against your lips as she pulled away, sitting on your thighs, straddling you. Grabbing the ends of her shirt, she lifted it up torturingly slow in a criss-cross motion, revealing more skin to you gradually. Your eyes trailed up her taut stomach before her necklace fell between the dip of her breasts caught your attention.

It was dark out, but the moonlight illuminated the room through the curtains, softly glowing on Wanda’s skin. 

You were trying to catch your breath as Wanda arched a smooth brow at you, licking her bottom lip as she threw her shirt on the ground. She reached down, beginning to unbutton your shirt, fingers just teasing the newly exposed skin. 

Goosebumps trailed her fingers at your stomach muscles clenched. Wanda pushed your unbutton shirt apart, drinking in your naked top save your sleek black bra. 

Wanda began to lean down with you meeting her halfway to reclaim her lips as her hands made work of removing your shirt completely before flinging it to the ground as well. Her tongue swiped your bottom lip slowly before she took it in her mouth and sucked.

A half-groan escaped you as she pushed you back down onto the mattress, her chest lining up with yours perfectly, and legs straightening out to be tangled with yours.

Your hands trailed her back, and you reveled in feeling the goosebumps that followed your fingers as you moved up. 

Fuck, her lips were so addicting. You could probably kiss her forever if she’d let you. 

When the need for air became apparent, Wanda pulled back, breathing raggedly as she looked at you with lust-driven eyes.

“No more other girls,” she told you almost like she was reprimanding you, and it made you bite your lip. Your hand found its way to her bra, snapping open the hooks, the garment falling off Wanda’s shoulder and down her arms.

You push up, reclaiming Wanda’s lips as the two of you are sitting upright. Her bra makes its way with the other discarded clothing. Lifting your hips, you topple Wanda over onto the mattress, your body settling between her legs.

You pull your lips away only to press them right on her neck. Her breath hitches as you suck on the skin, this time fully intending to leave a mark. 

It feels hot. 

You could hear the blood pumping in your ears, the need getting bigger with every breath and moan Wanda made. 

Your lips pepper kisses down her collarbone, hands caressing her sides as Wanda’s hands are splayed across your shoulder blades. 

Moving your hands, you slide your way up, feeling her smooth skin, her ribs, until your hand cups her breast and firmly squeezing. 

“ _Oh,_ ” Wanda moaned, arching her back into you. Your lips move to nibble on her earlobe.

“You’re incredibly hot when you’re jealous,” you whisper in her ear. She’s biting on her lip, hand coming up to run through your hair.

Suddenly, she’s moaning brazenly as you shift your hip to grind against her.

“You’re also so incredibly hot when you _moan_ ,” you say, kissing against her jawline.

“More,” Wanda hoarsely says, and it makes you smirk. You’re kissing a hot trail down her neck and collarbone before you stop at her breasts. Taking her nipple into your mouth, you roll the hardened nub under your tongue. 

She immediately lifts her torso, hands lifting above her head into her hair as your fingers are rolling her other nipple.

Fuck, it feels so good. Wanda wants more, she _needs_ more. She _needs_ more friction. There’s a tight hot coil in her lower belly, and Wanda just knows you’re the only one that can give her release. 

You can feel Wanda getting needier as you take your time. You tug her nipple in your mouth before releasing with a slight _pop,_ chuckling.

Your face lines up with her again, her pupils are dilated as she takes you in.

”Be good,” you slowly say, almost teasingly at her at your hand starts to trail more down. “You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for this, _wanting_ this.”

Your hand dips into Wanda’s pants, fingers firmly stroking over her center through her underwear.

 _”Fuck, you’re so wet,”_ you moan slightly against Wanda’s parted lips. Your fingers come back out and Wanda’s whimpers, wanting your fingers to go back. 

The blazing trail of kisses continues down Wanda’s body, you nibble slightly at her hip bone, earning a mewl from her. Undoing the buttons to her jeans, you pull the pants off with Wanda raising her hips to help you. Once they’re on the ground, you finish undressing until you’re completely naked.

Crawling back on the bed, you watch Wanda’s chest heaving as she’s trying to gain her breath. You look at her underwear in appreciation as it did match her bra before your finger loops around from the side, pulling the last garment off. 

She’s naked, hair wildly splayed on your bed, chest heaving, hips lifting slightly, and hands above her head.

Wanda looks good all the time, no doubt about it. But there’s nothing that can compare to how she looks when she’s naked before you. 

A shudder passes through Wanda, feeling the cold air hit her center. It didn’t help that your face was also so close. 

You hum, running your fingers through her folds experimentally, enjoying when Wanda’s breath hitched, and her hands coming down to be tangled in your hair.

Everything about Wanda is intoxicating to you. The sounds she’s making, the way she looks, the smell of her, _everything_.

Using your two fingers, you spread her folds open while moving upward. You push your tongue against Wanda, flattening it out as you gave a long stroke.

Wanda lets out an expletive as she groans. Fuck, your mouth was a hot inferno, and she wonders how long she can last against it. She made a sound every time your mouth ran over her clit or sucked on it. God, she could already feel her undoing coming.

Just when Wanda thinks that she’s going to come, you stop.

A frustrated moan leaves her mouth as you come back up. Your hot mouth is on her breast again as you give her other one a steady squeeze in your hand. It was almost painful how hard Wanda’s nipples were, she really needed you. The coil in her stomach got tighter when your tongue swirled around your nipple.

You release her nipple with a slight pop again before you’re face to face with her.

The intensity in your eyes stunned Wanda for a moment. It sent a hot electric buzz down her spine, but she didn’t have time to get lost in your eyes as you smashed your lips against her. You moved your lips with fervor, kissing Wanda until she felt dizzy.

The noises she was making were driving you mad.

Wanda’s body tightened, her hips canting up as you entered her with two fingers. Soon, Wanda’s hips met the pace you were setting. Your other hand went to grab a fistful of her hair, tugging it back, and breaking the kiss. 

“Fuck,” you whisper against her chin. “Look at you, moaning as I fuck you. You’ve been waiting a long time for this too, haven’t you? You’re so good, Wanda. God, you’re practically dripping.”

Wanda screwed her eyes shut, trying to not come instantly with how you were talking to her. She could feel the coil in her stomach get tighter and tighter.

Sweat was glistening off the both of you as you worked your way to Wanda’s orgasm. 

“Fuck,” Wanda whimpered with tears in her eyes from the sheer pleasure she was feeling.

You could feel Wanda pulsating each time you pumped your fingers. You latch your lips onto her neck, sucking on a spot that Wanda found sensitive.

“Wai–I’m going…I’m going to…” Wanda whimpered, unable to get the rest of the words out.

“That’s right,” you say, licking her bottom lip. “You’re ready, aren’t you? I can feel you getting tighter. God, you’re so beautiful, Wanda. And you’re _mine_.”

Your thumb swiped up and pressed against her clit, pushing Wanda over the edge.

Wanda swore as she came apart, toes curling as she spilled herself all over your palm. You slowly begin to release your grip on her hair, letting her come down from her high. 

Wanda felt you gently pull out of her, eyes darkening as you took your two fingers and put them into your mouth, sucking it clean off.

“You’re _very_ good,” you hum and Wanda isn’t sure if you mean her behavior or her taste.

But just watching you suck on your fingers to taste her was enough to drive her crazy.

She used this moment to thrust her hip up, flipping you over underneath her as she grabs your wrist and pins them beside your head.

“I’ll show you who’s good,” Wanda’s mumbles, looking at your cocky smirk. She’s having none of that right now. She leans down to kiss you, sucking in your bottom lip before nibbling at it.

“Just wait and see, _printsessa_ ,” Wanda purrs, and you shudder. “I’ll take very good care of you.”

And she did. 

And it was very, _very_ , delicious.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

It was still the late hours into the night…or early hours of the morning by the time the two of you finished each other. 

Wanda was grinning, feeling a new type of euphoria after coming so much. Her legs were tingling in a good way. She was lying on her back while you were on your side, propped up on your elbow against her. Legs were tangled together as your other hand rested delicately across her body on her ribs, tracing small circles.

Your face was right above hers as you gazed down at her lovingly. Wanda is playing with your necklace, shuffling closer to you as her cheek comes into contact with your breast.

She sighs blissfully, causing you to chuckle throatily. 

“What?” Wanda asks sleepily.

“Nothing,” you say softly. “It’s just…sometimes I thought that maybe we would never get here.”

Wanda grins. “You say that as if you’ve been wanting me for forever.”

You chuckle again, not really commenting on that.

“Well,” Wanda says. “I, for one, already had plans to get you into my bed.”

“This is my bed.”

Wanda smacks you on your arm lightly.

“Semantics. Plus, this isn’t even your bed.”

You laugh more fully as she’s right.

“That’s true. I really do need to find a new place soon.”

Wanda seems a little more awake this time as she lets go of your necklace, now fiddling with her fingers.

“You know,” she says slowly. “The lease on my place is coming up soon.”

You nod, blinking. 

Wanda’s biting her lip more nervously as she continues. 

“Well…I was thinking of maybe moving…and since you’re also finding a place…”

She trails off, but you know what she’s asking for.

You blink, shocked a little. You were definitely not expecting Wanda to want to move this fast.

It was crazy.

But you love crazy.

“Are you insinuating that we move in together?” You ask to clarify.

“More like asking,” she mumbles, playing with the ends of her hair. 

“Shit,” you say, your head swinging back a little bit. “Lesbians _really_ do move fast.”

Wanda sighs, “I know, I know. It’s insane. We met like months ago and just had sex, and now we’re dating–”

“We’re dating?”

Wanda’s jaw drops as she looks at you. The teasing look in your eyes gets Wanda scoffing playfully herself.

“If you think I’m going to let you go after giving me that many orgasms, you’ve got another thing coming.”

“Oh, so this is all about the sex, is it?” You tease again, laughing as Wanda is grinning with scrunched eyebrows as she teasingly slaps you again.

The two you laugh and giggle so more in bed before you slowly start to wind down again.

“Okay,” you say softly.

“Okay?” Wanda questions.

“Let’s find a place together,” you tell her, blinking slowly.

The way Wanda’s face lights up makes your heart full as she pushes up against you, bringing you onto your back as she slowly kisses you, hand traveling downwards… 

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

The next week is pure bliss.

You and Wanda are so in love, and everyone within a mile could see it. 

The two of you were still finding a place, bickering about whether you should rent or buy a place. Sure, the two of you had plans to travel all over the world, but both of you could agree that California was home. 

So it seemed like it was leaning towards buying a place.

The news broke to her friends that the two of you were now seeing each other. It seemed like everyone was quite happy about it or saw it coming.

Clint, in this case, saw that it was coming. Natasha too, but she looked genuinely happy for you. Apparently, she and Bruce were seeing each other again but taking things slowly.

The two of you were currently at Tony’s as he was hosting a BBQ party. And by hosting, he was providing the place while Steve and Bucky were grilling. 

It was a lovely day, you couldn’t be more content to be where you were. 

Everyone was outside playing games, eating as quickly as Steve was putting things out. Wanda has had a couple of drinks, playing volleyball with Clint, Sam, and Natasha.

You stood up, taking your jacket off slowly as you began to feel the heat of the sun. You wore a loose-fitting shirt as you grabbed a section of it to start fanning yourself, catching Wanda’s eye for a moment.

You went back into the house, trying to find the washroom in Tony’s ginormous house to see if you could cool down a little. 

It was only your second time being in the house, and this seemed to be another side of the house, so you were a little lost.

You opened a door to find that it was just a walk-in closet with some jackets hanging on the side. You were about to close the door when you felt someone push you inside, coming in with you before they shut the door.

“What the f–”

“Mmm, you’re looking delicious again today.”

You recognized the voice immediately and let out a quiet sigh of relief.

“Wanda–”

“You were doing that on purpose, weren’t you? Taking off your jacket, using your shirt to fan yourself. Showing me that taut stomach underneath,” Wanda had been finishing her game of volleyball when she turned and saw what you were doing.

God, lately she just can’t seem to keep her hands to herself. 

She’s lustful for you, _all_ the time. 

It was your fault, she thought. If you weren’t so goddamn sexy all the time, she would be able to control herself. 

She immediately crowded you to the wall, hands on either side of you, quickly latching her lips onto your throat, and enjoying your soft hum.

“You were seducing me,” Wanda said as she let go your pulse point. 

You really weren’t. _Okay_ , maybe you were when you caught her eye. 

But who could blame you?

“How naughty,” Wanda purrs. Before you know it, her hand is dipping into your panties, fingers stroking you firmly before she starts to circle your clit. 

You bite your lip, trying to hold the loud moan that wants to escape your lips. Wanda doesn’t seem like she wants you to do that though, her fingers pressing against the hardened nub before stroking your velvet folds again. She teases your entrance, and your head falls back against the wall as you shut your eyes.

She’s groping you so inappropriately and sucking on your pulse point again that you can’t help the low moan that escapes your lips.

Wanda smiles against your neck before she plunges two fingers into you roughly, setting a fast pace.

“God, you were so hot all day. I really didn’t even want to let you out of bed this morning,” Wanda mumbles against your throat, closing her eyes as she enjoys the feeling of you around her fingers.

Just the feeling of your slickness was making Wanda wet. Wanda was pressing kisses sporadically on your lips. She mostly kept her face close, enjoying being inches from your lips as you pant with pleasure.

Pleasure that she was giving you.

“I don’t know what you’re doing to me,” Wanda says, her breath ghosting over your lips. “I can’t stop thinking about you. I kept thinking about how I wanted to keep you in bed, your mouth on me all day long. Then I couldn’t stop thinking about how I wanted you to pull over on the way here and fuck me in the backseat. Even earlier, I just kept fantasizing if you just bent me over the table and _took_ me.”

The confessions were too much for you. You swore softly before Wanda captured your lips, using her thumb to press and rub over your clit.

The orgasm came fast and hard. 

You breathed raggedly as Wanda was still kissing you softly, pulling out of you gently, your wetness gliding over you as she pulled out.

She sucked on her fingers. It was dark, but your eyes could make out her silhouette.

You licked your lips before you roughly pushed her to the other side of the wall, earning a yelp from her. Getting down on your knees, you pushed her dress upward before yanking her panties down. Wanda’s breath hitched as she felt your breath over her dripping sex.

You grab hold of her thighs, keeping them apart as you inhale deeply and giving a long, languid lick.

Wanda’s head falls back as she swears. 

You pull back, licking your lips before you go right back in, this time, on a mission. You eat her out, tongue lashing against her clit with the tip of your tongue before you would flatten your tongue against her, stroking her. It would tease at her entrance, making her cry out.

Her body seemed to slide a little more downwards onto you as she fought to stand up. 

You let go of one of her legs, your hand coming in to finish her off. You pump two fingers into her, getting a lustful grunt from her. Your tongue swirls around her clit, and you enjoy the desperate sounds that Wanda makes. 

Your fingers curl as you stroke her, tongue pressing against her clit before one final firm flick, and Wanda’s coming.

You do your best to clean her up, licking your lips, and using your thumb to swipe at the edge of your mouth.

You come back up, pressing your body fully into hers as you cup her jaw her kiss her roughly, letting her taste herself on your mouth. She’s holding your hands in place as she returns your kiss, moaning softly. 

The two of you spend a little more time in the closet groping, caressing, and kissing each other before you come out of the closet.

When you come out, you see Tony standing at the end of the hallway with some wine glasses. He looks at the two of you, pursing his lips together.

“Really? In my closet?” He says. 

“There are over forty bedrooms in this house guys,” he says, and the two of you start giggling.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

The week after, the two of you finally found a home. It’s in a really nice gated community, somewhere Wanda has always wanted but unable to afford with her income alone.

You put the offer down and got it. It would be at the end of the month that you could start moving in. 

You decide that day that you’ll surprise Wanda. She’s currently at an interview with a local magazine. She’s been so excited that the next week, she’ll be working with David, and then soon after is her audition. 

You come by the building they’re doing the interview at. You stop by the front desk and let the security know that you’re here for Wanda. He picks up the phone, saying some things and then puts the phone down, gesturing which room they would be in.

The interview is finishing up just as you come in. You hear Wanda’s laughter that brings warmth to you. 

She sees you standing at the door, excitedly smiling as she waves at you to come over.

“Hey,” you say. Wanda is already pulling at your shirt to get you to bend down and give her a kiss.

“You’re here!” Wanda says, and you can’t help but chuckle. You turn over to see a blonde woman in her late 30s, eyeing the two of you.

“You must be her girlfriend,” the blonde woman says, and you nod with a smile. 

“That would be me,” you confirm. 

“How fascinating,” she comments, her tone rising a bit.

“We talked a little about her dating life, but I wouldn’t have guessed Wanda to be dating a regular person.”

You chuckle again, looking over at Wanda who shrugs her shoulder at you.

“I wouldn’t quite say that I’m completely regular,” you say, and Wanda’s eyes are glinting.

“Oh?” The journalist says. “Are you in her line of work as well?”

You smile, Wanda’s tugging on your sleeve again and you look at her. She has that look in her eye, and you know she’s the one that wants to say it. 

You nod.

Wanda turns over to the blonde woman and smirks.

“I’m dating Lady Phantom!” She brags. The journalist’s eyes widen as she looks again at you. 

“Wow,” the journalist says, clearly shocked. “There are so little photos of you, and yet you’re so famous now. How do you manage? Can I write that Wanda is dating Lady Phantom?”

Wanda is already getting up to get ready to leave at you. You smile at the journalist.

“Sure, I don’t mind…no pictures, though,” you say, and it hits the blonde how you’ve managed to get by with so little photos of you out there. You kept declining any photos taken outside of your playings. 

The two of you leave, and Wanda has a bounce in her step.

“Now it’s out there that Lady Phantom is quite happily taken,” Wanda says, and you laugh, opening the passenger door for her. 

You set off driving again.

“Where we going?” She asks, and you just grin, continuing to look at the road.

“You’ll see.”

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

The two of you sit on the blanket you brought on the same beach she goes to during Pietro’s anniversary.

You share the good news about the house and Wanda is just ecstatic.

You pop open a champagne bottle, pouring it into the glasses you brought, munching on some snacks as well.

Wanda’s sitting between your legs, forehead against your neck as she holds her glass at the stem and sighs contently. Your arm is wrapped around her, glass in hand. The other is on the ground as you lean into it. 

She looks up at you, grabbing your attention. She’s so cute and wide-eyed that you can’t help but lean down to kiss her softly. Your lips trail to kiss her on the nose before giving her feather-light kisses over her eyelids. 

Wanda hums, settling more into you if possible.

“I love you,” Wanda says softly.

The words make you pause for second, heart fluttering. 

She was the first to say it. God, you’ve felt it for her for so long.

You knew right away when you met that you would love her. 

Wanda’s biting her lips as she gauges your reaction. 

She looks so nervous that it almost makes you laugh. You set your glass down, burrowing it into the sand to keep it upright. 

You’re immediately kissing her again, hands coming to her neck before sliding up and cupping her jaw on both sides.

“I love you, too,” you whisper against her lips like it’s a secret that only she could know. 

She’s falling on her back with you on top of her. 

You hope beach sex is on her bucket list.


	10. Part X

“Great work, Vision! You’re good for today.”

Vision sighed, pulling off his headphones, and walking out the recording studio.

He thanked everyone for their hard work on his way out. 

The single he recently released was doing quite well, and he was quickly gaining a fanbase.

His breakup with Wanda had actually inspired some pretty good lyrics, and with some help to finesse the finished product, the single was becoming a hit. 

Vision hadn’t spoken Wanda since they split up at the party, but it’s not like he could avoid the headlines Wanda and her new girlfriend made. It was everywhere because you were so famous.

He still often spoke to Tony who updated him with what everyone’s been up to and Pepper was kind enough to give him advice from time to time.

Digging his hand into his pocket, he felt his ring there. He couldn’t bear to get rid of the engagement ring he got Wanda yet. It felt like it was the only thing left of her he had. 

As he walked out of recording studio, the exit he usually took was blocked off by cleaners, so he turned another way. 

It was a hall of records. Vision smiled slightly as he passed by each one. 

But then he saw one that made him stop.

It was your record, for the first album you released that has now gone triple platinum. 

He saw a couple more of your records framed up.

He was reeling.

This was too weird. 

Someone was passing by, and Vision stopped them. It was Ryan, the engineer that would be helping him with his album.

“Ryan…what’s this? Why are her albums framed up here?”

Ryan gave him a weird look as he gazed over your albums. 

“She’s an artiste at this company. Has been for a really long time. You never see her around, though. She’s been here long enough and produced enough results that they just let her do her own thing. In fact, you guys share the same manager.”

“What?” Vision choked.

Ryan had his eyebrows scrunched at Vision. Maybe he was a fan?

“I-I gotta go,” Vision said as he turned around and bolted out.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

“Can I look yet?”

“No, and don’t you dare peek.”

You have your hands over Wanda’s eyes as you safely guide her into your guys’ new home. She had mostly been busy with work, so you had taken the liberty of making sure everything would be set up.

Of course, you still had sent her a billion texts to see what type of furniture and color theme Wanda preferred. 

Today was the move-in day, and you had picked your girlfriend up when she was done work for the day.

“ _Please_ , I just want to see now,” Wanda whined, and you hushed her.

“Patience is a virtue, love,” you tease her. You hear her huff slightly.

“Well, I’m _very_ naughty,” she teased you right back, and you had to bite your lip.

Dear lord, you needed to move faster before Wanda decided she wanted to have her wicked way with you without you being able to show her the whole place. 

Once you’re in the perfect spot, you smile as you kiss the back of Wanda’s head gently before releasing your hands. 

Wanda’s eyes flutter open, awe washing over her as she takes a look at the entire place.

It was big. 

It was beautiful. 

It was her dream home.

The soft, pastel colors and marbling of the furniture was a dream. She turns around, jumping into your arms, kissing you right on your mouth.

“I love it,” she gushes. “Thank you for taking care of all this.”

You merely hum happily, leaning in to kiss her again. Wanda walks around the house, touching nearly everything and gushing about how everything looks perfect.

By the time you make it back to the living room, she turns to you, head tilted to the side with her fingers on her chin.

“You know, maybe there is _one_ thing that’s missing,” she says, taking a look around herself. 

“Really? What?” You ask, trying your best to think if you missed anything. 

Wanda looks back at you with a wicked grin.

“I think we need to christen the house.”

Before you know it, you’re revisiting every room in the house again.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

Wanda is on cloud nine by the time she reaches her friends for brunch the next day. 

“Hey, girls. Sorry, I’m late,” she greets them as she takes her seat next to Lily. Her other friend Anna from her party and at the charity was there too. Finally, Stacey had been invited by Anna. 

Lily was snickering as Wanda took a seat. “What happened? Miss DJ didn’t want to let you out of bed?”

Wanda immediately flushed red at her cheeks, the heat traveling all the way to her ears.

Because that’s exactly what happened. 

You had tried to convince her to stay in bed longer using your sexy, cocky smirk she liked, and your deft fingers and tongue.

Managing to keep in her in bed for another half hour, Wanda put all her willpower into getting up and running to the bathroom where you couldn’t follow. 

She definitely wanted to stay in bed longer too.

“Damn, girl, you really getting it,” Lily whistled, and Wanda had to push her friend playfully.

“I’m so jealous of you,” Anna whined as she sighed wistfully with her head in her hands. “I can’t believe you’re dating Lady Phantom. I had no idea she was so romantic. Everyone’s been talking about how she serenaded you at your party.”

Wanda only lightly chuckled, cheeks warm from the praises. 

“Oh!” Anna exclaimed as she sat upright, pulling her phone up and searching for something before showing it to Wanda. “Since your last interview where you revealed you were dating her, so many other tabloids are picking it up.”

Wanda grabbed the phone, looking at the headlines.

**LADY PHANTOM HAS A GIRLFRIEND?**

**INFLUENCER WANDA MAXIMOFF BAGS ELUSIVE DJ.**

**LADY PHANTOM AND WANDA MAXIMOFF CAUGHT HOLDING HANDS AND KISSING WHILE WALKING**

**DJ LADY PHANTOM AND INFLUENCER WANDA MAXIMOFF BUY A HOUSE TOGETHER? IS THE ELUSIVE DJ SETTLING DOWN?**

Wanda bit her lip as she clicked on one of the headlines, skimming through it.

_A close source says that Lady Phantom may have whisked Wanda Maximoff right off her feet from new artist Vision. The source says that the DJ romantically serenaded Wanda at her birthday party recently. Swoon! What a lucky girl!_

The smile on Wanda’s face was so broad as she passed her phone back to Anna. 

She was the girl who locked you down. 

“It’s crazy how they’ve already got this much information. We just bought the house in Los Altos Hills,” Wanda says offhandedly, casually dropping the neighborhood she now resides in. 

“What?” Stacey exclaims, surprised, and a little bit jealous as well. She had tried to cling to you during the party, but you didn’t seem interested at all. 

“Nice houses there aren’t under $1.6 million and the photos you posted to Instagram…shit, how much was it?”

Wanda just smiled and shrugged, she wasn’t about to brag how you and she got a $5 million dollar house. 

It was crazy to her. She would’ve never been able to buy one of the beautiful houses of Los Altos Hills with Vision.

It just felt like her dreams of having everything she wanted in her life and to share it with the person she loves was all coming true. 

The rest of the brunch went on as usual. The girls were screaming in excitement that she would be doing a photoshoot with David King. Wanda hadn’t even told them that she would be auditioning for a movie soon after. 

“Excuse me,” Wanda called the waitress as she was passing by. “Could I get an order of the traditional breakfast bowl to go? Medium poached eggs and extra hollandaise sauce, please.”

The waitress nodded with a smile before leaving.

“You bringing some for your girlfriend?” Lily asked with teasing in her tone.

Wanda nodded with a smile, “Yeah, we, _uh_ , didn’t have time for breakfast this morning, and she had to go to the studio right after. I’m going to visit her with food.”

Lily sighed adoringly, “Oh, young love, how it is…”

“You’re younger than me, Lil,” Wanda said, and they both laughed. 

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

Wanda was on her way, closing in on the studio to see you when her phone started vibrating. 

She transferred your food into her other hand that was holding up her bag as she dug her free hand into her back pocket, tongue out as she picked up.

“Hello,” she answered, not being able to check the caller ID before she picked up.

 _“Wanda–”_ The voice was frantic.

“Vision?” Wanda answered confusedly. Why was her ex calling her?

“How’ve you been? I heard your single is doing well. I’m happy for you,” Wanda told him warmly regardless of why he was calling her. 

_“Yeah, Wanda, listen, you need to break up with your girlfriend. I told you there was something wrong with her!”_

“What the hell are you talking about?” Wanda said heatedly. How could he just call to say that?

_“I knew this opportunity to sign on was too good to be true. She’s from the same company, even has the same manager as me! I know she sent her manager to recruit me on the day of your birthday. She set me up to not show up!”_

“Did someone tell you that?” Wanda asked, her walk becoming brisker as she was getting heated.

_“No, but–”_

“Then how the hell do you know that’s true? So what that you’re in the same company with the same manager? She tells me she hardly talks to her manager as she essentially handles her own work. Also, even if that were true, no one told you to drink yourself to a blackout state and miss my birthday. You could’ve signed on, had your celebratory drink, and left,” Wanda huffed.

“I am not hashing this out with you again, Viz,” Wanda said finally.

_“Wanda, please, listen to me. There really is something off about her. She’s clearly obsessed with you. Who knows how long she’s been plotting to get you.”_

“You want me to be offended my girlfriend wants me and finds me desirable?”

_“No, I want you to be offended that she has no boundaries and sabotaged me to get you!”_

“That’s seriously insane, Vision. She’s a _famous_ DJ, and I’m just a social influencer. Does that make any sense to you?”

“Wanda–”

“Vision!” Wanda interrupted him. “I don’t want to hear about this again. We’re supposed to have an amicable breakup. Seriously, don’t call me again if you’re going to just say this.”

She could hear him saying something else as she hung up. She huffed again, rolling her eyes slightly.

Wanda tried to shake off the icky mood that the call put her in. She didn’t want to be grumpy when she saw you. 

She placed her knuckles against the door softly as she knocked. 

It wasn’t you who opened the door, but the guy seemed to have recognized her and let her in, putting his finger to his lips to signal her to be quiet.

She sheepishly shrugged her shoulders as she tiptoed in.

There she found you, your back facing her as you were looking over the recording, playing it with headphones on.

Wanda heard you hum lightly before you pressed a button to speak to the singer inside the recording studio.

“That was pretty good, but can you try redoing the last line? Instead of just holding the note on the last word, do a vocal run.”

The singer nodded, clearing her throat as she got ready. 

Everyone watched as she redid it, and it sounded amazing. The difference was so subtle, but it sent chills down their spine. 

“That’s perfect! Great job. Why don’t you take a break?” You suggested.

Once everyone began to relax, you turned around, surprise in your eyes as you saw your girlfriend standing there.

Wanda immediately went over to embrace you, kissing you softly.

Damn, you were so sexy when you worked.

You hummed into the kiss, clearly enjoying it.

“Mm,” you pulled back slightly. “What are you doing here? I thought you had brunch with your friends.”

Wanda gave you a half-smirk, holding onto the lapels of your leather jacket. “Well, I thought since you weren’t able to get breakfast this morning due to _your_ shenanigans, I thought I’d bring you some.”

“What kind of shenanigans?” A dude from the back yelled, and everyone laughed as you rolled your eyes.

You looked back at your girlfriend, adoration just filling your eyes as you looked at her. Grabbing her hand and the food off the table, you led her out.

“C’mon, let’s eat outside. There’s too much testosterone in here.”

The boys laughed again, and Wanda giggled.

You led her out to the back where a lovely table and bench were in the shade under a tree.

Taking out the food, your stomach nearly ate itself, smelling the aroma. 

You really were hungry.

But the hunger was definitely worth keeping Wanda in bed as long as you could this morning.

“So,” you said as you scooped some food onto your spoon. “How was brunch?”

“It was good. Lily, Anna, and Stacey were there.”

“Stacey as in…that girl from your birthday?”

Wanda scrunched her nose up at that but nodded. “Yeah…she totally wants to kill me so she can date you.”

You laughed, bringing your hand to your mouth. You swallowed your food before talking again.

“I highly doubt she could get the drop on you, so no worries there.”

“You’re damn right,” Wanda mumbled as you smiled.

Wanda watched you eat, her mouth curling upwards without her even realizing. You were always so focused on your food while eating, and she thought it was endearing. 

“So,” Wanda says. “Have you…seen the tabloids by any chance?”

Your licking remnants of hollandaise sauce from your lips as you hear Wanda ask that. You nod, scooping more food.

“Mhm,” you say, spoon in their air as you have yet to put it into your mouth. You tilt your head, brow quirked as you look up slightly. “I hear a very, very attractive social influencer has bagged an elusive DJ. Apparently, they’ve been spotted buying a house together. _How scandalous._ ”

Wanda is grinning ear to ear. God, why were you also so funny?

“Yes,” she plays along. “All the tabloids are saying that the DJ is settling down, can you believe that?”

You’re trying to hide your grin as you reply. “Buying a house is now settling down? Whew, that is quite the leap. What will the public say when she gets married?”

“Do you think she’s considering marriage?” Wanda asks, biting her thumb lightly as she regards you. God, she hopes you are. 

You’ve finished your food, packing it away back into its bag to be thrown away later.

You look at Wanda.

And by God, she just might be everything you’ve ever wanted. 

The thought of someone else won’t even cross your mind.

If it isn’t Wanda, it just won’t do.

You brush your leg against her lightly under the table, gently smiling as you lean back on your hands a little.

The two of you are gazing into each other’s eyes, just feeling like everything is right in the world.

“I would say that now she’s found the right person, it’s a part of her plans.”

Wanda beams.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

The next two week passes by quickly, and before Wanda knows it, she’s heading over to meet up with David King at his studio bright and early.

Her stomach is exploding with butterflies as she walks in.

Wanda wishes that you could be here with her, but you were stuck doing an interview with someone for a magazine today.

David’s assistant recognizes her for today’s appointment, greeting Wanda with a friendly smile and a handshake.

She leads Wanda over into the room where David is just finishing setting up the lighting. 

“Hey!” He greets as he comes in to hug her with a kiss on her cheek. “Are you ready for some collaborating today?”

Wanda nods excitedly.

“Great! Let’s talk about what you want your theme to be. Once we have that, I’ll know what other magazines to send your photos and interview to in addition to posting it on my website.”

Wanda and David sit at the table, he pours her some tea while they work together on what she wants out of this photoshoot and interview.

“I want to show my personality, that I’m not just some dumb social influencer. I won’t just rep anything, and there are brands I really care about working with. I also want to show that I have other interests as well, like…acting.”

David smiles, kindly at her. “Yes, I’ve been told you’ve secured an audition in two weeks.”

Wanda bashfully smiles and shrugs, “Not so much me who secured it, but I definitely don’t want to disappoint her.”

David snorts, “I’m pretty sure you could murder someone, and she wouldn’t be disappointed.”

Wanda just boisterously laughs because she does get that vibe from you, but that just makes it all more endearing to her that you love her so. 

After they’ve settled on themes, they immediately work on taking photos as David wants to use as much natural lighting as he can. David finds that the whole process is really smooth because Wanda is someone who wants to be a part of the process, not just doing everything he tells her.

It’s much more fulfilling to work with her. He is quite happy you got him to take a chance on her. 

Once they’ve taken photos, they’re both looking over them. Wanda gives her opinion on some of the selections as an amateur photographer herself, and David finds it so refreshing.

Wanda was definitely not afraid to give her opinions, ask for perspective, or ask for his reasonings.

In the next part, they work on the short essay David can post to his blog along with the photos. Additionally, he gets her to answer a few interview questions so the magazine he picks to give his photos to can use the answers she provides too.

The entire collaboration takes the whole day, so by the time they finish, the sun has just finished setting.

“It was so great to work with you, Wanda,” David gushes as he goes in to hug her again. “Seriously, I haven’t had such a great collaboration like this in a long time.”

“Oh my god, _no_ , please. It’s such an honor to work with you,” Wanda modestly says, while she raves about him. 

David just grins as her while she turns to get her things in order.

“I’m so glad your girlfriend was able to get me to meet you. I was honestly surprised by the whole thing.”

“What do you mean?” Wanda asks as she starts to pack her things back into her bag.

“Well, you know,” David says with a shake of his hand. “I actually usually have a very strict rule about not working with social media influencers. I’ve tried a couple in the past, but I found them to be incredibly vapid.”

Wanda just smiles, unsure how to answer but pleased that he obviously found her different.

“I’ve actually seen your vlogs and Instagram before, it was my boyfriend Liam who had originally discovered you months ago. Your girlfriend was over that day, and I showed her your profile. I didn’t think she would actually end up finding you, befriend you, and then end up dating you.”

It was like time slowed for Wanda. 

What?

You actually had known of her beforehand?

Wanda immediately flashed back to when she first met you and invited you inside for drinks.

_“What do you do for work?”_

_“I suppose Vision would say I’m a photographer. It’s nothing really, I post vlogs and brands pay me to represent their stuff.”_

_“No way! That’s seriously amazing. So, you’re kind of famous?”_

But by what David said, you would’ve already known what she did and that she had a following.

Why did you lie?

Vision’s call from two weeks ago popped into her mind, and she felt like she was going to be sick to her stomach.

God, was what he said true?

“Are you okay?” David asked with worry as he looked at Wanda, who looked a little pale. 

Wanda snapped out of it, turning to him with a smile.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she says, pulling her bag onto her shoulder. “Yeah, it’s crazy how things work out, isn’t it? I’ve got to head home now. Once again, thank you so much, David.”

He hushes her and sees her off.

Wanda is making a beeline, hailing for a cab.

She needs to see you.

Now.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

“This is beautiful, thank you. Please keep the change.”

You took the bouquet of flowers you just bought from a flower shop on your way home. 

It was filled with all of Wanda’s favorite flowers and wrapped together nicely. You wanted to congratulate her on her big day with David. You knew once he would post it to his site and give it to whatever magazines, Wanda was going to be blowing up. 

It definitely would work in her favor for her audition in two weeks. 

You drove home, idly tapping on the steering wheel as you thought about what to have for a late dinner. You knew it was unlikely that Wanda could eat much today since they decided to get everything done today. 

Maybe order in some pizza?

But then Wanda wanted to stay in shape as much as possible before her audition. 

Maybe lemon & butter salmon?

You pull up into your driveway, turning your car off as you grab the bouquet.

“I’m home!” You call out as you walk in, but there’s no response.

The house is completely dark, which you find strange because Wanda is usually in the living room watching TV or in the kitchen when she’s waiting for you.

“Wanda?” You call out as you walk up the stairs. 

You enter the bedroom.

The small lamp on the bedside is on, and you find Wanda sitting on her chair in front of the vanity mirror you got her.

You walk over to her, but she doesn’t talk to you.

“Baby?” You call softly as you kneel down before her, placing the bouquet down, touching her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

Did something happen?

Was she hurt?

David had texted you when it was over that it went great, and thanked you again for getting him to meet her.

So, what was wrong?

Wanda looks at you with a still expression. She turns her whole body to you and her jaw clenches before she releases it.

“I want to ask you something, and please tell me the truth.”

You scrunch your eyebrows together because you have no idea what she wants to ask you, but you nod.

“Did you,” Wanda breathes. “Did you know who I was before you met me?”

The stillness hits you immediately. 

You regard her, taking in her desperate expression as she looks at you.

You could’ve lied.

You could tell her that David may have shown you her profile before, but you hardly cared to notice or remember it. 

You could’ve told her anything, and Wanda would’ve believed it. 

But…there was something else there.

So, you didn’t.

“I did,” you admitted, watching as Wanda stood up, walking over to the other side of the room with disbelief on her face.

You stood up as well, crossing your arms but making no move to her.

“Why did you lie?” Wanda asked. “Were you stalking me? Is that how you found me at the fast-food chain?”

“I wouldn’t say stalking,” you say as if she was being dramatic. “I came to California for work planned months before, you just happened to be here as well. Was I interested in you? Yes. Did I somehow know that you were going to be there to eat and live in the same community? No.”

Wanda’s mind was reeling. She couldn’t help but replay Vision’s words over and over in her head.

“Did you want me? From the very beginning?”

You couldn’t help but quirk your eyebrow. There was definitely something she was hiding from you.

“As I said, I was interested in you, but I knew you were engaged.”

“Is it true?” She asked, and you’re not even sure what she’s referring to. “That you and Vision are under the same company? That you even share a manager?”

 _Ah_ , it hits you. Now you know where this is coming from. Vision had found out what he could. But you knew Charles would never tell him that you had purposely sent him to Vision.

“Yes,” you admit once more. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Wanda asks, frustration in her tone.

You shrug your shoulders. “As I told you, I don’t often talk to my manager as I handle my own affairs. It’s not really any of my business who he decides to sign on.”

“So you didn’t deliberately get your manager to sign Vision on and make him miss my birthday?”

You paused.

Another choice.

You could lie.

It would be so easy to.

But you had to push it more. 

“I did show my manager Vision’s work on SoundCloud,” you say instead. It was true, even if it wasn’t the whole truth.

Wanda understands, anyways.

Her breath hitches, and she’s putting her hands to her face. 

She can’t believe this is happening. 

This time, you begin to walk over to her, standing right before her.

“You’re insane,” Wanda says with a crazed laugh. “Vision’s right. You are _obsessed_ with me. You were sabotaging him to get me! What am I to you even? Some sort of sick prize?”

Your jaw clenches a little. She’s starting to hit on your nerve a little, but you remain patient. 

You close in on her, backing her until she hits the wall. You raise your arms slowly to either side of her head, giving her ample time to leave if she wanted.

But she didn’t.

“I wouldn’t say signing him onto a record label, giving him the spotlight, actually earning money for his work, which I heard he’s doing pretty well now, _by the way_ , is sabotaging him. Here’s the thing, Wanda. Yes, I did set him up. I told my manager to sign his untalented ass on and treat him like a king on your birthday. But guess what? Vision didn’t have to stay. If he really, _truly_ , wanted to leave, Charles couldn’t have done anything about that. No one forced him to keep taking the next drink. No one told him to not care about you.”

Wanda is silent, angry tears come up to her waterline as she stares at you with a clenched jaw. 

“I’m not putting myself up on a pedestal here, but it was me that came through for you every time,” You tell Wanda. “Am I obsessed with you? Maybe. But don’t stand there and pretend that you don’t enjoy my attention. You _love_ the fact that Lady Phantom dedicates sets to you, serenaded you, bought you $100,000 necklace in front of everyone. You love people giving you accolades that we’re together. You love that people are jealous of the fact that they’re looking at me while I’m looking at you.”

You called her out, hitting her right on the dot. 

She can’t even deny it because it’s true. 

But Wanda still loves _you_. That much is real.

“So what?” She scoffs. “It’s all fake then? Everything you did was a meticulously thought out plan to win me? Everything you did was purposely done to draw me to you?”

“There’s nothing wrong with planning,” you say to her softly. “Even if I did plan it, it doesn’t mean I don’t care. I care very much. My heart was breaking about the fact you were with someone that was dragging you behind, making you feel guilty about wanting more out of life. It broke my heart to think that you spend every year alone on Pietro’s anniversary because he didn’t try to do more for you. It made me angry to hear people snidely make comments about you when Vision didn’t show up for your birthday. I hate when you’re not in the spotlight because that’s where you deserve to be. If someone is stealing it from you, I’ll do everything I can to shift the light to you.”

Wanda had a single tear slide down her cheek. She grabs onto the ends of your jacket, desperate to feel you closer.

She has to know.

She _needs_ to know.

“Do you even love me?” She asks softly, and it nearly breaks your heart all over.

You lift one hand to lower it to her face, cupping her jaw and neck delicately. You move your face closer to hers, giving her all the time she needs to pull away if she doesn’t want you.

”I do. _So much_. In a way that only you could ever understand.”

Wanda doesn’t pull away.

She never wanted to in the first place.

This was never about breaking up.

You knew that. Which is why you risked telling her the entire truth.

She wanted to know that what you had for her was real, that she could never be replaced.

That you were hers.

You press your lips to her firmly, your tongue swiping her bottom lip as she moans softly. 

She pulls you closer to her, pressing your body to hers completely as she melts into you. She lifts her arms, wrapping them around your neck as she continues to kiss you. 

You push off the wall, redirecting her to your shared bed as you topple on top of her with a knee in between her legs.

You pull back softly, your hand drifting underneath her shirt as you caress the soft skin there.

Her eyes open slowly, and she just looks electric to you.

“I love you,” she says quietly, and you can’t help but press another soft kiss to her as your hand lowers into her panties.

“You secretly love it, don’t you? What I do to you.” You say against her jaw, and it’s a little muffled. 

Wanda’s breath hitches, chest rising as you touch her just the right way against her clit, rubbing through her wet folds.

She nods, but you want to hear it.

“I want to hear you say it, baby,” you huskily say as you tease her. Your other hand is around the back of her neck, just grasping at her hair. 

Wanda’s moaning shamelessly as you circle her clit again, diving lower as your fingers tease her entrance. God, it feels so _slippery_.

Fuck, she really wants your fingers in her. The knotting in her stomach gets even worse when you nibble her collarbone. 

But she knows you won’t give it to her until she gives you what you want.

“I love it,” Wanda moans. “I love the way you _drive me crazy_.”


End file.
